SAPPHIRE 


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OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS 


EDWARD  SALISBURY  FIELD 

ILLUSTRATIONS  BY 

WILL  GREFE' 


NEW  YORK 

GROSSETODUNLAP 

PUBLISHERS 


COPYRIGHT,  1910,  BY 
W.  J.  WATT  &  COMPANY. 


<Qie5APPHIKE  BRACELET 


CHAPTER  I 

A  PRETTY   girl,   looking   very   cool 
and   attractive   in   a   white  muslin 
gown,  descended  from  the  veranda 
of  the  little  Lake  View  Hotel,  and  directed 
her  steps  toward  two  distant  maples,  under 
which  her  hammock  was  slung,  her  way  lead- 
ing across  a  lawn  yellow  with  dandelions. 
Only  once  she  paused  —  to  scan  the  lake,  and 
to  gaze  wistfully  at  its  one  island,  colored 
blue  by  the  haze  of  a  June  afternoon. 

She  carried  a  white  parasol,  and  a  book 
bound  in  green  buckram;  she  wore  no  hat. 
In  the  sun,  her  hair  would  have  rivaled  the 
dandelions,  it  was  so  deliciously  and  naturally 
yellow ;  and  her  eyes  were  as  blue  as  the  dis- 


21 £9617 


<QieSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 

tant  island,  where,  at  that  very  moment,  a 
picnic  party  from  the  hotel  was  doing  its  best 
to  divide  itself  into  fractions,  each  fraction 
containing  an  interested  and  interesting  mem- 
ber of  an  opposite  sex. 

On  the  island,  alas,  save  in  one  or  two 
cases,  the  problem  remained  a  problem,  for 
the  picnic  party  was  sadly  lacking  in  men. 
So,  if  the  girl  had  gone  to  the  picnic,  instead 
of  remaining  at  the  hotel  with  her  Aunt  Har- 
riet, perhaps  by  this  time  she  would  have 
been  looking  wistfully  across  the  lake  to  the 
deserted  hotel.  Still,  one  always  fancies  one 
will  have  a  pleasant  time  at  a  picnic,  and 
grows  surer  of  it  as  the  day  advances  —  that 
is,  when  one  stays  away.  So,  the  girl  felt 
just  the  least  bit  lonely  and  unhappy,  even 
though  she  cared  not  a  cent  for  any  indi- 
vidual member  of  the  picnic  party. 

"  I  couldn't  have  gone,  anyway,"  she  said 
to  herself.  "  That  train  being  so  early  made 
it  quite  impossible."  Which  might  lead  one 
to  infer  that  she  expected  a  friend,  or  some 
one,  at  least,  by  a  certain  train. 

She  was  not  really  disconsolate,  however, 
for  she  carried  in  her  hand  an  exciting  story. 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 

<^»» «^1/ 

She  was  sure  it  was  exciting,  for  she  had 
already  read  the  last  chapter,  and  it  had 
ended  most  dramatically.  Then,  too,  her 
hammock  was  most  comfortable.  Indeed,  it 
was  her  own  particular  hammock,  which  she 
had  brought  with  her  from  New  York. 

Therefore,  when  she  approached  the  two 
maples,  with  every  prospect  of  a  peaceful 
afternoon,  she  was,  naturally,  surprised,  and 
a  little  indignant,  to  find  her  hammock  occu- 
pied by  a  young  man;  rather  a  handsome 
young  man,  to  be  sure,  but  also  an  inter- 
loping, vexatious  young  man,  who  must  be 
shown  his  place,  must  be  taught  that  he  could 
not,  with  impunity,  fall  asleep  in  hammocks 
that  belonged  exclusively  to  pretty,  attractive 
young  ladies.  For  there  could  be  no  doubt- 
ing it :  the  young  man  was  fast  asleep. 

Perhaps  if  the  girl  had  known  him,  she 
would  have  liked  him,  for  Morton  Prince 
was  most  likable.  But  she  did  not  know 
him;  she  was  ignorant  that  his  name  was 
Morton  Prince.  Indeed,  she  was  aware  of 
but  three  things:  a  young  man  was  asleep  in 
her  hammock,  she  wanted  her  hammock,  she 
meant  to  have  it. 


V 


<Qie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


To  accomplish  her  design,  it  was  obviously 
necessary  to  awaken  the  young  man.  It 
might  be  that  a  cough  would  awaken  him? 

She  coughed. 

But  Morton  Prince  slept  through  a  whole 
series  of  coughs,  whereat  she  eyed  him  re- 
proachfully, then  blushed  a  little  as  it  oc- 
curred to  her  that,  in  a  story  book,  he  would 
be  the  only  man  in  the  world.  And  the  only 
man  in  the  world  was  always  awakened, 
in  story  books,  with —  But  she  wanted  her 
hammock. 

Dropping  both  parasol  and  book,  she 
grasped  the  rope  supporting  the  hammock, 
and  gave  it  a  violent  shake,  causing  Mr. 
Prince  to  stir  uneasily.  But  he  did  not  open 
his  eyes. 

Again  the  hammock  was  shaken,  this  time 
with  better  success. 

"  Where  the  deuce  am  I  ? "  murmured 
Mr.  Prince,  rubbing  his  eyes. 

"  You're  in  my  hammock." 

"  Good  old  hammock,"  said  Mr.  Prince, 
preparing  to  take  another  nap. 

"  You  mustn't  go  to  sleep  again !  I  say 
you  mustn't  I  " 


r-N  ^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


;'Why  not?"  demanded  Mr.  Prince,  sit- 
ting up  suddenly. 

"  Because  it's  my  hammock,  and  I  want 
it." 

"Ohl"  said  Mr.  Prince.  "Your  ham- 
mock, is  it?  By  Jove,  your  hammock,  of 
course!"  he  added,  rising  hastily.  "I'm 
sure  I  beg  your  pardon.  I'm  only  half- 
awake,  you  see." 

"  Yes,  I  see,"  the  girl  replied  coldly. 

Mr.  Morton  Prince  smiled  disarmingly. 
"  I  was  dead  tired,  and  I  didn't  know  it  was 
a  private  hammock.  I  only  arrived  an  hour 
ago,"  he  explained.  "  It  seems  to  be  pleas- 
ant here,"  he  continued,  by  way  of  making 
conversation. 

"  No  doubt  some  people  find  it  pleasant," 
said  the  girl  in  a  tone  of  finality.  u  Good- 
afternoon." 

"  I    say !  "    exclaimed    Mr.    Prince, 
hope  you're  not  offended  with  me." 

"Why  should  I  be?" 

"  I   don't  know.     But,   somehow,   I 
that  you  are." 

"  Really,  I'm  not." 

"Are  you  sure?" 


"I 


feel 


^e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  I'm  not  so  sure  as  I  was  when  I  said  I 
wasn't." 

"  Perhaps  I'd  better  go.  But  I  hate  to 
go  with  this  misunderstanding  between  us." 

The  girl  eyed  him  disapprovingly,  then 
stooped  to  pick  up  her  book. 

"  Let  me,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  making  a 
hasty  dive. 

As  he  placed  the  book  in  her  hands,  the 
girl's  face  brightened.  "  You  say  you  ar- 
rived an  hour  ago?  "  she  asked. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  greatly  relieved 
to  find  his  dismissal  temporarily  postponed. 
"  Yes,  an  hour  ago." 

"  But  there  is  no  train  at  that  time." 

"  I  came  in  a  motor  car." 

"Ohl" 

"  Started    from   New   York   at   five 
morning.     Not  a  bad  record." 

"  You  must  have  been  ii 


this 


hurry. 


m 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


quite     so.     The     four     o'clock 


s\     troubled, 
train." 

"  But,  of  course,  time  is  money  in  your 
profession." 

"  Oh,  rather!  "  agreed  Mr.  Prince. 

"  I  think  it  was  clever  of  me  to  know 
you." 

"  You  didn't,  at  first." 

"  Well,  you  see  you  are  rather  young-look- 
ing. I  presume  of  course  that  you're  a  sub- 
ordinate." 

"  I'm  not  a  subordinate,"  declared  Mr. 
Prince,  with  conviction.  "  That  is,  I  may 
be  this  minute.  But  just  you  wait." 

"  Then  you  are  the  head  of  the  agency?  " 

Mr.  Prince  looked  puzzled,  then  squared 
his  shoulders,  impressively.  "  You've  guessed 
it,"  he  said. 

"  That  simplifies  matters.  I  feel,  now,  I 
can  tell  you  everything." 

"  Yes,  everything,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 
"  That's  what  I  want  to  know  —  every- 
thing." 

"  I  hardly  know  where  to  begin,"  said  the 
girl,  seating  herself  in  the  hammock,  and  re- 
garding the  tips  of  her  fingers. 


r 


<Qie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  You  might  begin  at  the  beginning,"  sug- 
gested Mr.  Prince. 
*  "  That  wouldn't  be  logical,"  said  the  girl. 

"Why  not?" 

"Is   it  logical   for  a  woman  to  be  logx 

ical?" 

"  But  you're  a  mere  child,"  he  objected. 

"  I'm  not.     I'm  twenty." 

"  And  I'm  twenty-eight." 

"  A  girl  is  older  at  twenty  than  a  boy  at 
twenty-eight." 

"  Than  a  man  at  twenty-eight,"  corrected 

Mr.  Prince. 

"  You  are  awfully  boyish  to  hold  such  a  re- 
sponsible position,"  said  the  girl. 

"  If  I  were  not  successful,  would  I  be 
here?"  he  demanded. 

"  Since  you  are  here,  wouldn't  it  be  more 
business-like  to  —  to  be  business-like?  " 

41 1  am  waiting  to  hear  why  you  sent  for 
me,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  adopting  what  he 
deemed  to  be  a  professional  manner. 

"But  I   thought  you  knew.     Surely  the 

telegram — " 

"  Your  telegram  was  most  vague,"  said 

Mr.  Prince. 


^e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 

^X7i 


"  Didn't  it  tell  you  I  needed  your  serv- 
ices?" 

11  That's  why  I'm  here." 

"  Come  to  think  of  it,  I  don't  believe  it 
did  tell  you  why  I  needed  your  services." 

"  That's  just  it,"  said  Mr.  Prince.  "  I 
came,  hoping  to  be  of  service  to  you,  but  en- 
tirely ignorant  as  to  the  reason  why  my  serv- 
ices were  needed." 

44  Can't  you  guess?  " 

"  Of  course  I  can  guess." 

"  Then  guess." 

"  That  would  be  hardly  professional." 

"  No,  I  suppose  not.  Still,  when  one 
sends  for  a  detective  — " 

"A  detective?"  exclaimed  Mr.  Prince, 
taken  quite  off  his  guard  by  the  unexpected- 
ness of  it  all. 

"  Yes,  a  detective.  You  are  a  detective, 
aren't  you  ?  " 

"  She  asks  me  if  I'm  a  detective,"  he  said, 
appealing  to  the  universe  at  large  with  a  voice 
of  amazement. 

"  Well,  are  you,  or  aren't  you?  " 

"  Did  you  never  hear  of  Morton  Prince?  " 

44 1  never  did." 


<0ie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  Or  of  Red  Fennessy,  or  of  Anarchist 
Joe,  or  of  —  of  — " 

"  Go  on,"  said  the  girl. 

"  Red  Fennessy  is  now  serving  fifteen 
years  in  jail  for  the  Winchester  bank  rob- 
bery; Anarchist  Joe  is  doing  a  life  sentence 
for  the  Baltimore  bomb  outrage.  And  who 
put  them  there?  " 

"  I  give  it  up,"  said  the  girl. 

"  I  put  them  there." 

"  And  is  Morton  Prince  in  jail,  too?  " 

"  No.  Morton  Prince  is  not  in  jail.  It 
is  Morton  Prince  you  see  before  you.  I  am 
Morton  Prince." 

"Not  really?" 

"  Just  as  sure  as  I'm  standing  here." 

"  I  never  dreamed  the  agency  would  send 
such  a  famous  detective." 

"  It  would  naturally  send  you  the  best  it 
had,"  Mr.  Prince  explained  modestly.  "If 
you  will  be  so  good  as  to  tell  me  why  my 
services  are  needed." 

"  It  is  on  a  very  delicate  matter,"  said  the 
girl. 

"Ah,  I  see;  a  case  in  which  caution  and 
diplomacy  are  required.' 
10 


"THANK    YOU,   SO    MUCH,"   SAID    MR.    PRINCE,    SEATING    HIMSELF    AT 
HER   FEET 


"  Oh,  lots  of  caution,  and  no  end  of  di- 
plomacy! Do  you  think  you  can  manage  it, 
Mr.  Prince?" 

"  I'm  sure  of  it." 

"If  you  are  tired  of  standing,  you  may 
sit  down." 

"  Thank  you  so  much,"  said  Mr.  Prince* 
seating  himself  at  her  feet,  a  position  which, 
figuratively,  of  course,  he  was  to  occupy  for 
some  time  to  come. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  girl,  evidently  at  a  loss  where  to 
begin  her  narrative,  bestowed  a  ten- 
tative glance  on  Detective  Prince, 
who  sat  silent,  regarding  her  with  trustful 
and  appreciative  eyes;  she  gazed,  for  a  mo- 
ment, at  the  sky.  Naturally,  one  would  hesi- 
tate to  declare  that  she  found  in  the  color  of 
the  sky  an  answer  to  some  vexing  question. 
But  it  is  said  we  are  strangely  influenced  by 
colors,  and  the  sky  was  wonderfully  blue 
that  afternoon.  At  all  events,  when  her 
gaze  left  the  sky,  to  rest  once  more  on  the 
approving  Mr.  Prince,  she  seemed  to  have 
acquired  the  information,  confidence,  or 
whatever  it  was  she  had  been  seeking. 

"  I  am  ready  now,"  she  said. 

"  Do  you  mind  if  I  smoke?  "  asked  Mr. 
Prince.  "  I  can  think  better  when  I  smoke." 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 

jr*^ _____ 


*'  I  hope  you  don't  use  morphine,"  said  the 
girl. 

"  I'm  a  bit  too  modern  for  that.  Why,  I 
don't  even  use  a  magnifying  glass  1  " 

"  I  suppose  modern  methods  are  more  — — 
more  modern." 

"  Oh,  rather!  "  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  Still,  I  presume  you  disguise  yourself  oc- 
casionally." 

"  That  isn't  necessary.  Of  course  we  oc- 
casionally disguise  our  true  feelings,"  he  ex- 
plained. 

As  this  statement  was  accompanied  by 
a  look  of  undisguised  admiration,  the  girl 
had  little  reason  for  supposing  this  to  be  one 
of  the  occasions  to  which  Detective  Prince 
referred. 

"  I  doubt  if  you  ever  have  any  feelings  to 
disguise,"  she  said. 

"  Oh,  I  say !  "  protested  Mr.  Prince. 

"  Of  course,  to  me,  you  are  a  mere  ma- 
chine, possessing  a  coldly  analytical  mind, 
and  no  heart." 

"  Detectives  often  have  hearts." 

"  Before  they  become  detectives,  perhaps." 

"  There  is  something  in  that." 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


'  Then  you'll  admit  that  all  detectives  are 
heartless." 

"  I'll  admit  I  lost  my  heart  when  I  became 
a  detective,"  Mr.  Prince  replied  evasively. 

"  Perhaps  it  would  be  better  if  you  were 
to  smoke,"  said  the  girl. 

Detective  Prince  drew  a  gold  case  from 
his  pocket,  and  selected  a  cigarette. 

"  This  is  great!  "  he  said. 

"  Does  it  really  affect  your  mind?  "  asked 
the  girl. 

"  Oh,  rather!  "  said  Mr.  Prince.  "  I  see 
things  much  more  clearly  through  smoke." 

"  I  suppose  I'd  better  tell  you  all  about 
the  robbery,"  said  the  girl. 

"  A  robbery  ?     Good !     Go  on." 

"  It  promises  to  be  a  very  difficult  case." 

*'  It  might  be  for  some,"  said  Mr.  Prince, 
"  but  I'm  no  end  of  a  dab  at  finding  things; 
been  doing  it  ever  since  I  was  a  youngster.1* 

"  How  very  curious  I  " 

"  Not  at  all.  Did  you  ever  play  Button, 
button,  who's  got  the  button?" 

"Yes,  but—" 

"  That's  the  way  it  began.  I  always 
knew  where  the  button  was.  And  then 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 

^*-  -^^  i*  i        jf 

there's  that  silly  game  with  a  dollar,  where 
you  hold  hands  under  a  table." 

"  I  have  never  played  it,"  said  the  girl. 

"  What,  never  played  Up  Jenkins?  " 

"Never!" 

"  Of  course  I've  only  played  it  with  men," 
said  Mr.  Prince,  "  but  I  could  generally  tell 
where  the  dollar  was  without  half-trying.  It 
has  always  been  so,"  he  added  vaguely. 

"Aren't  we  losing  time?  "  asked  the  girl. 

"  I'm  not,"  replied  Mr.  Prince. 

"  Supposing  you  had  been  robbed  of  a  sap- 
phire bracelet?  " 

"That's  different,"  he  admitted.  "Did 
the  robbery  take  place  here?  " 

"Where  else?" 

"  Ah,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  producing  a  gold 
pencil  and  a  check  book,  "  a  sapphire  brace- 
let, you  say.  Sapphires  are  blue,  aren't 
they?" 

"  Generally." 

"  I  think  blue  would  be  awfully  becoming 
to  you.  Go  on." 

;<  Wouldn't  it  be  more  professional  of  you 
to  ask  me  questions?  " 

"  It  would  be,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "  but  I 


^eSAPPHIRE  BR/VCEIET 


thought  best  to  adopt  a  different  method  in 
your  case." 

"Why?" 

"One  has  to  ask  rather  —  er  —  intimate 
questions." 

"Oh!" 

"  Still,  perhaps  it  would  be  better." 

"  What  a  horrid  profession !  " 

"  I'll  admit  it  has  a  disagreeable  side. 
But  there  are  certain  pleasant  features;  one 
meets  so  many  charming  people." 

"  Criminals  may  be  interesting,  but  I 
should  hardly  call  them  charming,"  said  the 
girl. 

"  I  was  thinking  of  my  clients." 

"  I  suppose  charming  people  are  robbed 
occasionally." 

"  Yes,  indeed !  If  that  weren't  so,  I 
wouldn't  be — " 

"Wouldn't  be  what?" 

"  Wouldn't  be  a  detective,"  said  Mr. 
Prince. 

"  I  can't  afford  to  pay  you  a  large  sum  if 
you  are  successful  in  finding  the  bracelet," 
said  the  girl. 

"  We  never  receive  large  fees,  except  from 
16 


•~\ 


banks  and  corporations.  Of  course,  you  pay 
me  nothing  if  I  fail." 

"  And  if  you  succeed?  " 

"  Six  dollars." 

"  But  that's  a  ridiculous  price !  " 

"  Four  dollars,  then." 

"  I  mean  it's  absurdly  cheap." 

'  We  detectives  look  on  private  cases,  such 
as  yours,  as  a  diversion,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 
"  It's  restful,  after  tracking  people  through 
subways,  and  chasing  them  in  hansoms,  and 
all  that  sort  of  thing.  I  say,  are  you  fond 
of  sailing?  " 

"  I'm  mad  about  it." 

"  I've  a  sloop  yacht  that's  a  regular  hum- 
mer; raced  it  to  the  Bermudas  last  year." 

"  I  didn't  know  detectives  were  yachts- 
men," said  the  girl. 

"  I  was  chasing  a  criminal,"  said  Mr. 
Prince.  "  But  he  arrived  first,  and  took 
refuge  under  the  British  flag." 

"Goodness!" 

"  I  got  him,  though ;  I  kidnapped  him,  you 
know.  He  was  an  awful  rascal." 

"  I  should  think  a  little  case  like  mine 
would  seem  stupid,  after  that." 

17 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  Not  at  all.  Let's  see,  where  were  we, 
anyway?  " 

"  We  hadn't  got  very  far." 

"  But  I  feel  that  we're  progressing,"  said 
Mr.  Prince,  looking  at  her  with  an  expression 
of  great  hopefulness. 

"  Of  course  you  see  much  that  is  hidden 
from  me,"  said  the  girl. 

Detective  Prince  now  wrote  two  words  on 
the  back  of  a  blank  check. 

"  I'm  making  a  note  of  something,"  he 
explained.  "  I  say,  are  there  two  *  p's  '  in 
sapphire  ?  " 

"I—     Why,  I'm  not  sure." 

"  It  looks  awfully  queer  with  only  one." 

"If  it  looks  queer,  it's  probably  right," 
said  the  girl. 

"  I'm  glad  you  can't  spell,"  said  Mr. 
Prince.  "  I  hate  people  who  know  every- 
thing." 

"  I  admire  ther 

"  Detectives  know  a  great  deal  about 
said  Mr.  Prince 


<Qie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 

I  became  a  detective,  you  know,   and  I've 
never  lost  my  fondness  for  horses." 

"  But  isn't  polo  an  expensive  game?  " 

We  detectives  make  a  thundering  lot  of 
money.     I'm  thinking  of  retiring  soon." 

"  I  suppose  it  is  a  strain." 

"  It's  beginning  to  be  an  awful  strain," 
said  Mr.  Prince.  "  I  shouldn't  wonder  if 
this  were  to  be  my  last  case." 

"  You  will  probably  marry  some  nice,  re- 
formed criminal,  and  settle  down,"  said  the 
girl. 

"  I  shall  do  nothing  of  the  sort." 

"  Perhaps  bachelors  are  happier." 

"  They're  not,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  I  hope  you're  not  thinking  of  marrying 
above  your  station,"  said  the  girl. 

"  A  detective  is  as  good  as  anybody,"  de- 
clared Mr.  Prince. 

"  Aren't  we  becoming  a  bit  personal." 

"  By  Jove!     We  are%  aren't  we?  " 

"  It's  always  a  mistake  to  become  per- 
sonal." 

"  One  has  to  in  my  profession.  It's  the 
personal  note  always  that  leads  to  clues,  you 
know." 

19 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  But  you  haven't  done  a  thing  toward 
finding  the  sapphire  bracelet." 

"  I've  been  leading  up  to  it.  A  detect- 
ive's first  duty  it  to  become  acquainted  with 
his  client,  and  to  inspire  her  with  confidence, 
and  all  that  sort  of  thing." 

"  I  can't  say  you've  been  altogether  suc- 
cessful." 

"  That,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "  is  because  you 
haven't  yet  become  acquainted  with  me." 

"  I  doubt  if  any  one  could  ever  really 
become  acquainted  with  a  detective,"  said  the 
girl ;  "  they're  so  suspicious,  and  relentless, 
and  cynical." 

"  Oh,  I  say,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Prince,  "  I'm 
not  cynical!  " 

"  Then  you  still  retain  a  little  faith  in 
mankind?  " 

"  A  little." 

"  And  you  are  not  entirely  cynical?  " 

"Er  —  not  entirely." 

"  I  don't  understand  it,"  said  the  girl. 

"  Well,  you  see,  I've  always  dealt  with 
the  better  class  of  criminals  —  bank  presi- 
dents and  railroad  officials,  you  know." 

"Was  Red  Fennessy  a  bank  president?" 
20 


"  That  was  before  I  reached  the  top  of 
the  ladder,"  Mr.  Prince  replied  uneasily. 
What  about  that  sapphire  bracelet,  any- 
way? You  couldn't  have  mislaid  it,  could 
you?" 

"  That  would  have  been  impossible." 

"  It's  easy  to  mislay  things." 

"  I  couldn't  have  mislaid  that  bracelet. 
I'm  sure  of  it." 

"  Then  some  one  must  have  stolen  it," 
said  Mr.  Prince.  "  When  did  you  see  it 
last?" 

11  Yesterday  evening." 

"  Before  or  after  dinner?  " 

"  Before  dinner." 

"  It  might  have  been  a  bellboy." 

"  There  aren't  any." 

"  Or  a  chambermaid." 

"  I'm  sure  it  wasn't." 

"  Rather  a  difficult  problem,"  said  Mr. 
Prince,  wrinkling  his  forehead. 

"  It  wasn't  in  my  room  when  I  went  up- 
stairs, after  dinner,"  the  girl  volunteered. 

"  By  Jove !  Then  it  must  have  been  a 
guest  who  took  it." 

11  I'd  hate  to  think  so." 

21 


\ 


<Qie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"I  —  I  really  ought  to  see  the  room," 
said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  You  can  see  it  to-morrow,"  said  the  girl. 
"  It's  the  one  in  the  corner,  on  the  second 
floor.  Yes,  the  one  with  open  shutters." 

Mr.  Prince  favored  the  window  indicated 
with  a  glance,  then  turned  once  more  to  the 
girl. 

"  I  have  a  theory,"  he  said. 

"What,  so  soon?" 

"  It  came  to  me  all  of  a  sudden.  That's 
the  way  things  usually  come  to  me." 

"  After  a  series  of  deductions,  no  doubt." 

"Rather!  I've  been,  deducing  right 
along,  ever  since  I  met  you." 

"And  your  theory?  " 

"  That,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "  is  a  secret." 

"  I  presume  it  would  be  hardly  profes- 
sional to  tell  me,  but  I'm  dying  to  know." 

"  You'd  be  surprised  if  I  were  to  tell  you 
—  uncommonly  surprised." 

"  I  like  surprises." 

"  No,"  said  Mr.  Prince  firmly,  "  it  would 
never  do.  Can  you  describe  the  bracelet  so 
that  I'd  know  it  if  I  saw  it?  " 

"  Let  me  see,"  said  the  girl. 
22 


"  Not  too  fast,"  cautioned  Mr.  Prince, 
preparing  to  make  notes. 

"  I  should  say  it  contained  nine  or  ten 
sapphires." 

"Big  ones?" 

"  Beauties !  And  it  wasn't  a  clasp  brace- 
let; it  was  one  of  the  kind  you  slip  over  your 
hand." 

"  Yes,  I  know,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  And  there  was  a  little  ribbon  of  dia- 
monds running  in  and  out  between  the  sap- 
phires." 

"  I  don't  think  I  understand." 

"  You'd  understand  in  a  moment  if  you 
saw  it,"  said  the  girl.  "  And  it  was  chased." 

"  I  think  pearls  are  more  chaste,"  said 
Mr.  Prince.  "  Do  you  care  for  pearls?  " 

"  Do  you  really  believe  you'll  be  able  to 
find  the  bracelet?  "  asked  the  girl. 

"  I'm  sure  I'll  find  it." 

11  If  you'll  excuse  me,  I  think  I'll  go  in 
now,"  said  the  girl. 

"  There  are  lots  of  questions  I  haven't 
asked  you,"  objected  Mr.  Prince.  "  Be- 
sides, the  hotel  is  deserted  —  everybody's 
gone  to  a  picnic." 

23 


c 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


There 


"  My  aunt  didn't  go  to  the  picnic, 
she  is,  on  the  veranda." 

The  girl   rose   from   the   hammock; 
Prince  sprang  to  his  feet. 

"  I  must  see  you  again,  soon,"  he  said. 

"  Is  it  necessary?  " 

"Absolutely!" 

"  Perhaps  if  you  were  to  be  at  the  boat- 
house,  at  five  — " 

"  I'll  be  there,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  You  mustn't  count  on  seeing  me." 

"  But  you'll  come  if  you  can?  " 

"  Yes,  if  I  can.     Good-afternoon." 

Mr.  Prince  watched  the  girl  as  she  re- 
treated across  the  lawn;  she  was  wonder- 
fully graceful,  he  thought,  and  —  By 
Jove,  she  had  gone  off  without  her  book! 
He  picked  it  up,  almost  tenderly,  then  settled 
himself  in  the  hammock. 

"  I  forgot  to  ask  her  if  I  might,  but  I'm 
sure  she  wouldn't  mind,"  he  said  to  him- 
self. "  I'll  stay  here  till  half-past  four,  and 
then  I'll  look  about  for  that  boathouse.  I've 


CHAPTER  III 

WHEN  Mr.  Prince  had  left  New 
York  in  his  motor  car  at  five 
o'clock  that  morning,  it  had  been 
with  the  intention  of  dining  at  the  Ken- 
wood Country  Club,  which  lay  some  twenty 
odd  miles  beyond  the  little  Lake  View  Hotel 
where  he  now  was.  Of  course,  it  was  still 
possible  for  him  to  dine  there,  even  if  he 
kept  his  appointment  at  the  boathouse,  an 
appointment  he  had  not  the  slightest  inten- 
tion of  missing.  That  he  should  play  in 
the  golf  tournament,  to  be  held  on  the  Ken- 
wood links  next  day,  was,  however,  just  the 
least  bit  doubtful.  He  could  manage  it  by 
making  an  early  start  in  the  morning.  But 
so  much  depended  on  his  interview  with  the 
girl! 

He  wondered  if  she  had  suspected  he  was 

25 


c. 


not  a  detective.  He  had  been  rather 
clever  in  his  deceit,  he  thought.  Still,  he 
mustn't  underestimate  her  intelligence;  that 
would  be  a  grave  mistake.  He  was  sure 
he  hadn't  underestimated  her  charm.  She 
was  the  most  charming  creature  it  had  ever 
been  his  good  fortune  to  meet.  It  was, 
moreover,  quite  too  bad  that  their  meeting 
should  have  been  the  result  of  a  misunder- 
standing on  her  part. 

Great  Scott!  Suppose  a  man  should  ar- 
rive on  the  four  o'clock  train!  And  sup- 
pose he  were  a  detective!  Mr.  Prince 
knew  vaguely  that  there  were  laws  —  un- 
pleasant laws  —  applying  to  citizens  who 
passed  themselves  off  as  police  officers. 
And  what  were  detectives  but  glorified  po- 
licemen ? 

"  I  may  have  got  myself  into  no  end  of  a 
scrape,"  he  thought,  a  trifle  ruefully. 

Still,  it  was  very  probable  that  no  detec- 
tive would  arrive  by  the  four  o'clock  train. 
Besides,  he  wouldn't  have  missed  meeting 
the  girl  for  anything  —  not  for  a  year  in. 
state's  prison;  not  for  two  years,  by 
George ! 

26 


^SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


This  sincere,  if  misguided,  declaration 
tended  to  restore  his  confidence  amazingly. 
Looking  at  his  watch,  he  saw  it  was  now, 
but  half-past  three;  a  half-hour  yet  to 
dream  of  the  girl  before  the  fateful  four 
o'clock  train  should  arrive.  She  was  so 
pretty,  and  her  smile  so  adorable;  the  hint 
of  mischief  in  her  eyes  was  truly  enchanting ; 
he  was  her  slave,  her  willing  slave,  and  he 
would  follow  her  —  not  openly,  of  course, 
for  that  would  give  offense.  But  he'd  fol- 
low her,  and  be  near  her  always  till  —  till  — 
Just  what  Mr.  Prince  resolved,  only  the  sand- 
man knew,  for  Mr.  Prince  was  once  more 
fast  asleep. 

Let  it  be  said  in  his  defense,  if  sleep  need 
a  defense,  that  Mr.  Prince  had  gone  to  bed 
late  the  night  before;  also,  he  had  risen  at 
five,  and  acting  as  his  own  chaff eur,  had 
driven  a  long  distance.  Then,  too,  the  ham- 
mock was  most  comfortable;  its  enticement 
was  not  to  be  denied. 

The  shadows  lengthened,  creeping  east- 
ward; a  faint  whistle  announced  the  ap- 
proach of  the  four  o'clock  train;  ten  min- 
utes later,  a  shabby  omnibus,  drawn  by  two 
27 


1 


dejected-looking  horses,  drew  up  before  the 
hotel.     And  still  Mr.  Prince  slept. 

That  he  should  be  awakened  twice  in  one 
afternoon,  and  each  time  by  a  girl,  seems 
strange,  indeed.  But  the  arm  of  coincidence 
is  long,  and  its  powers  elastic,  to  be  stretched 
as  easily  as  one  stretches  the  truth.  Which 
accounts,  perhaps,  for  the  fact  that  it  was  a 
firm  young  hand  on  his  shoulder  that  now 
summoned  Mr.  Prince  from  slumberland. 

He  obeyed  the  summons  slowly  and 
sleepily  —  so  slowly  that  the  girl  grew  a 
little  impatient. 

"  You've  got  to  wake  up,"  she  said. 

"Why?"  demanded  Mr.  Prince,  opening 
his  eyes. 

"  Because  I  want  the  hammock." 

Mr.  Prince  looked  hurt. 

"  I'm  in  a  hurry,"  said  the  girl,  who  was 
evidently  a  servant. 

"  Oh !  "  said  Mr.  Prince,  rising  to  his 
feet.  "  Here,  I'll  help  you." 

Slipping  the  hooks  from  their  support- 
ing ropes,  he  rolled  the  hammock  into  a  neat 
bundle.  "  Is  the  four  o'clock  train  in  yet?  " 
he  asked. 

28 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  The  'bus  arrived  five  minutes  ago." 

"  Any  passengers?  " 

"  Only  one  —  a  man  " 

"Ah I"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

The  girl  now  picked  up  the  hammock 
and  started  toward  the  hotel,  Mr.  Prince 
gazing  after  her  with  troubled  eyes. 

"  That  explains  it,"  he  said  to  himself, 
"  the  man  who  came  in  the  'bus  must  have 
been  a  detective.  Or  else,  why  the  deuce 
did  she  send  a  chambermaid  for  her  ham- 
mock?" 

Perhaps  it  was  her  method  of  dismissing 
him  from  the  case.  He  must  remember, 
however,  that  she  may  not  have  known  he 
was  occupying  her  hammock.  Perhaps  he 
had  but  witnessed  a  daily  occurrence?  Per- 
haps the  hammock  was  removed  to  the  hotel 
every  afternoon  at  four?  Perhaps  he  had 
been  awakened  by  the  chambermaid  simply 
because  his  presence  in  the  hammock  had 
prevented  her  from  following  an  established 
custom  ?  Here  was  a  whole  series  of  plausi- 
ble conjectures.  Besides,  it  was  silly  to 
take  other  than  a  hopeful  view  of  things. 

Yet   it   wasn't   so    easy   to   be    optimistic 


^e  SAPPHIRE 


where  one's  affections  were  engaged.  And 
certainly  his  affections  were  engaged.  Oh, 
rather!  His  meeting  with  the  girl  meant 
far  more  to  him  than  a  pleasant  incident  of 
an  idle  afternoon.  It  was  an  event  —  a  big, 
breathless,  bewildering  event.  It  was 
dashed  romantic,  too.  Mr.  Prince  was 
agreeably  surprised  to  find  there  was  so  much 
romance  left  in  the  world. 

And  to  think  he  had  quitted  New  York 
that  morning  with  no  other  idea  than  to 
reach  the  Kenwood  Club  by  dinner  time, 
and  to  drive  a  piffling  golf  ball  a  little  far- 
ther, to  approach  a  little  better,  and  to  putt 
a  little  truer  than  the  next  man,  on  the  mor- 
row. And  here  he  was,  acting  quite  like  a 
hero  in  a  story  book.  True,  he  had  told 
more  lies  than  lovers  usually  tell  in  story 
books.  Which  proved,  by  George,  that 
truth  was  stranger  than  fiction! 

But  they  would  be  difficult  to  explain, 
those  lies.  That  is,  they  might  be.  It 
would  make  a  great  difference  if  his  theory 
concerning  the  disappearance  of  the  bracelet 
proved  correct.  It  wasn't  exactly  a  theory, 
either;  it  was  little  more  than  an  impression. 


Yet  Mr.  Prince  couldn't  help  suspecting  that 
the  girl  had  not  been  robbed  of  a  sapphire 
bracelet. 

Still,  she  might  have  been  robbed.  And 
she  might  have  been  expecting  a  detective 
by  the  four-o'clock  train.  If  this  were  true, 
it  would  mean,  of  course,  that  the  single 
passenger  in  the  hotel  'bus  had  been  a  detec- 
tive. By  Jovel  She  might  be  consulting 
him  this  very  minute  1 

Mr.  Prince's  eye  now  encountered  the 
book  bound  in  green  buckram,  which  lay  on 
the  grass,  not  far  away,  the  encounter  re- 
sulting in  the  book  being  transferred  to  his 
pocket.  Although  not  particularly  impor- 
tant in  itself,  the  fact  of  having  it  in  his 
pocket  comforted  him. 

"  It  will,  at  least,  give  me  an  opportunity 
to  speak  to  her  again,"  he  said  to  himself, 
"  even  if  she  doesn't  keep  her  appointment  at 
the  boathouse." 

The  clerk  of  the  Lake  View  Hotel,  a 
brisk,  business-like  young  man,  possessing  a 
mop  of  curly  brown  hair,  and  wearing  a  won- 
derful green  tie,  was  making  out  bills.  He 

31 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


had  just  decided  that  six  days,  at  three  dollars 
and  a  half  a  day,  plus  extra  charges  for 
trunks,  and  'bus  fare,  came  to  twenty-two 
dollars  and  twenty-five  cents,  when  Mr. 
Prince  approached  the  counter  behind  which 
he  sat,  and  reached  for  the  hotel  register. 

"  Pleasant  day,"  observed  the  clerk,  nod- 
ding affably.  "  Will  you  stop  with  us  to- 
night?" 

"  I  shouldn't  wonder,"  said  Mr.  Prince, 
studying  the  last  entry  on  the  register. 

"  Can  give  you  a  good  room,  with  a 
bath,"  volunteered  the  clerk. 

11  I'll  take  it." 

"  Can't  show  it  to  you  yet." 

"Any  time  before  dinner  will  do." 

"  Six  o'clock,  then." 

"  That  will  do  nicely." 

"  If  you  want  your  automobile  washed  — " 

"  I  think  not,  thanks.  Where  is  the  boat- 
house  from  here?  " 

u  You  go  past  the  barn,  then  turn  to  your 
right,"  said  the  clerk.  "  If  you  want  to  go 
for  a  row,  just  help  yourself  to  anything  you 
see.' 

"Any  sailboats?" 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


both    over 
have  one 


to    the 
to-mor- 


'  Two.  But  they're 
island  to-day.  You  cai 
row." 

"  Perhaps  I'll  want  one  to-morrow,"  said 
Mr.  Prince. 

"  Gee,  but  it  must  be  great  to  travel 
around  like  that  in  an  automobile  1 "  thought 
the  clerk. 

"  By  Jove,  it  would  be  great  if  I  could  take 
her  for  a  sail  to-morrow !  "  thought  Mr. 
Prince.  "  Of  course  I'd  have  to  ask  her 
aunt,  too.  I  wonder  what  she's  like  I  That 
chap  who  registered  last  night  may  be  a  de- 
tective, though." 

"Dave  Warner,  N.  Y."  The  name 
wasn't  at  all  reassuring;  nor  was  the  city 
he  had  given  as  his  place  of  residence. 
Still,  one  needn't  borrow  trouble.  Besides, 
the  boathouse  was  the  real  test;  if  she  came 
to  the  boathouse,  all  was  well.  Having 
reached  this  decision,  Mr.  Prince  left  the 
hotel,  and,  following  the  directions  given 
him  by  the  clerk,  soon  came  to  a  fringe  of 
willows.  Beyond  this,  he  discovered  a  little 
pavilion,  and  a  primitive  landing,  to  which 
several  rowboats  were  moored. 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


Mr.  Prince  inspected  the  boats  carefully. 
He  tried  to  think  of  some  plausible  excuse 
that  would  permit  of  his  taking  the  girl  for 
a  row.  He  could  think  of  none.  But  there 
was  no  harm  in  holding  the  boats  in  mind. 
Chance,  or  fate — -Mr.  Prince  was  strongly 
inclined  to  believe  it  was  fate  —  had  been, 
most  generous  to  him  that  afternoon.  Very 
well,  he  would  leave  it  to  fate  then.  Only 
he  would  keep  his  eyes  open,  and  be  ready 
to  act  promptly  if  opportunity  offered.  In 
the  meantime,  he  would  sit  on  a  bench  in  the 
little  pavilion,  and  take  a  peep  into  the  book 
he  carried  in  his  pocket. 

From  where  he  stood,  Mr.  Prince  could 
see  but  part  of  the  interior  of  the  pavilion 
he  now  approached;  he  was,  therefore,  quite 
unprepared  to  find  it  occupied  —  occupied 
by  a  man.  The  man  in  question,  tall,  dark, 
and  powerfully  built,  wore  checked  clothes 
and  a  black  mustache;  a  resplendent  dia- 
mond flashed  from  the  littl 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"7 


I  think,"   he  said,   "  you   are   the  man 
I  want  to  talk  to." 

Mr.  Prince  started  guiltily.  "  I  don't  be- 
lieve I  —  er  —  quite  understand,"  he  fal- 
tered. 

u  My  name  is  Dave  Warner,"  said  the 
man. 

Mr.  Prince  managed  a  sickly  smile. 
"  I'm  sorry,  Mr.  Warner,  but  I  have  no 
time  to  spare.  I  —  I  was  just  going  back 
to  the  hotel." 

"  In  that  case,  I'll  go  with  you,"  said  Mr. 
Warner. 

"  Trapped !  "  muttered  Mr.  Prince. 

"  I  didn't  catch  that,"  said  Mr.  Warner. 

"  It  was  nothing,"  said  Mr.  Prince.  "  I 
was  just  —  er  —  wondering  what  you  —  er 
—  wanted." 

"  A  little  matter  of  business,"  Mr.  War- 
ner explained.  "  You  hail  from  New  York 
City,  don't  you  ?  " 

"  Y  —  es,"  admitted  Mr.  Prince. 

"  Thought  so.  There's  something  about 
New  Yorkers —  I'm  one,  myself.  Be- 
sides, your  chug-wagon  wears  a  New  York 
number.'* 

35 


Prince. 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


'  There's  no  use  lying  to  a  real  detective," 
thought  Mr.  Prince.  "  I'm  glad  I  didn't  at- 
tempt to  deceive  him." 

"  Do  you  know  how  far  it  is  from  little  . 
old  New  York  to  this  place?  " 

"  Only  approximately." 

"  He  doesn't  know  how  far  it  is,"  said 
Mr.  Warner,  addressing  the  lake.  "  Now, 
what  d'ye  think  of  that?  " 

"I      say!"       exclaimed      Mr. 
"  What  has  that  got  to  do  with  it?  " 

"  I  guess  it's  about  time  to  talk  business," 
said  Mr.  Warner. 

"  I  wonder,"  thought  Mr.  Prince,  "  if  I 
dare  offer  him  money.  It  isn't  exactly 
honest  to  try  and  buy  people  off.  But,  dash 
it  all,  what  else  can  I  do?  " 

"  You  don't  look  to  me  like  you  would 
let  a  little  money  stand  in  the  way  of  your 
comfort  and  happiness,"  Mr.  Warner  con- 
tinued. 

"  I'm  willing  to  pay  a  fair  price,  but  not 
a  cent  more.  I'm  inclined  to  be  liberal, 
but  I  won't  be  imposed  upon." 

"  That,"  said  Mr.  Warner,  "  is  the  proper 
spirit." 

16 


e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


Lt 

Mr.  Prince  drew  from  his  pocket,  a  neat 
leather  case  containing  bank  notes.  "  How 
much  do  you  want?  "  he  asked  with  a  brisk 
air  of  business. 

"  Sixty-five  dollars." 

"  Cheap  enough,"  thought  Mr.  Prince, 
counting  out  the  sum  mentioned,  and  pass- 
ing it  to  his  companion. 

"  Hold  on  a  minute,"  said  Mr.  Warner, 
"  while  I  write  a  receipt." 

"  Wouldn't  a  receipt  be  the  least  bit  —  er 
—  inconvenient?  " 

"  Just  as  you  like.  It's  customary,  but  it 
ain't  necessary.  Anyway,  I'm  prepared  to 
deliver  the  goods.  What's  more,  you  got 
a  ten-year  guarantee." 

"  I  fancy  it  will  be  all  right  without  the 
guarantee,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  You  can  bet  your  sweet  life  it  will !  It's 
the  best  in  the  market,  and  it  works  like  a 
charm." 

"Er  — what?" 

"  I  say  the  Sparrow  Speedometer  is  the 
grandest  speedometer  made;  it  registers 
miles,  and  fractions  of  miles,  up  to  ten 
thousand,  and  the  sixty-five  dollar  one  has  a 
37 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


clock  attached  to  it,  besides.  Hullo! 
What's  the  matter  with  you  ?  " 

"Nothing  —  nothing  at  all,"  said  the 
dazed  Mr.  Prince.  "  Only  I  thought  — 
That  is,  I  had  been  led  to  believe  —  That 
is—" 

"  Didn't  the  clerk  at  the  hotel  put  you 
wise  to  me?  "  demanded  Mr.  Warner. 

"  Yes,  yes.  What  I  meant  was,  I  had  no 
idea  it  was  so  late." 

"  It's  only  five  minutes  to  five,"  said  Mr. 
Warner,  glancing  at  his  watch.  "  Restful 
little  place,  this.  Dropped  off  here  to  spend 
the  night.  Can't  ever  tell  when  you're  going 
to  strike  business,  though." 

Five  minutes  to  five!  The  girl  had 
promised  to  be  at  the  boathouse  at  five,  if 
she  came  at  all.  And  Mr.  Dave  Warner 
had  just  lighted  a  long,  black  cigar.  He 
mustn't  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the  pavilion  r 
he  must  be  got  rid  of  at  all  hazards. 


"O 


CHAPTER  IV 

F  course  I  know  the  Sparrow 
Speedometer,  and  have  always 
meant  to  have  one  on  my  car," 
Mr.  Prince  began  tentatively.  "  But  you 
know  how  one  puts  things  off  ?  " 

"Oh,  Lord,  yes!" 

"  So,  when  the  clerk  told  me  about  you, 
I  was  quite  prepared  to  buy  one." 

"  Guess  you've  proved  that,"  said  Mr. 
Warner.  "Got  your  money,  ain't  I?" 

"That's  it;  you've  got  my  money,  but  I 
haven't  yet  received  the  speedometer." 

"  It's  at  the  hotel." 

"  But  you'll  put  it  on  the  car  for  me?  " 

"  Sure,  I  will.     Any  time  you  say." 

"  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I'm  leaving  at  half- 
past  five." 

Mr.   Warner   rose   reluctantly.     "  I   sup- 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


pose  I'd  better  get  busy,  then,"  he  said. 
"  It's  a  kinda  mean  job  to  put  'em  on.  Sell- 
ing 'em's  a  cinch,  though.  Don't  expect  it'll 
be  ready  for  you  for  half  an  hour  yet.  See 
you  before  you  go.  So-long!  " 

Mr.  Prince  waited  till  Mr.  Warner  had 
disappeared  through  the  fringe  of  willows; 
then  sat  down,  and  breathed  a  great  sigh  of 
relief. 

"  It's  the  very  deuce  what  a  guilty  con- 
science will  do  to  a  man,"  he  thought.  "  By 
George,  I  feel  ten  years  older!  It's  cross- 
ing bridges  before  they  come  to  them,  and 
looking  for  trouble  where  there  isn't  any, 
that  makes  men  old  before  their  time,"  he 
concluded  philosophically. 

It  was  now  five  o'clock,  the  hour  when  the 
girl  had  said  she  would  be  at  the  boathouse 
—  if  she  could  come  at  all;  a  light  wind 
rippled  the  lake,  and  stirred  the  fringe 
of  willows;  to  the  left  of  the  island,  a  sail 
shone  like  silver  in  the  sun.  But  sails,  and 
winds,  and  willows  interested  Mr.  Prince  not 
at  all;  he  kicked  his  heels  impatiently,  glanc- 
ing every  half-minute  at  his  watch. 

Would    she    come?     Or    wouldn't    she? 


^e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


Women  were,  of  course,  proverbially  late  in 
keeping  appointments,  and,  for  aught  he 
knew,  the  proverb  applied  to  girls,  as  well. 
Indeed,  it  was  logical  to  suppose  that  all  the 
cornerstones  of  this  womanly  failing  had 
been  laid  during  the  tender  years  of  girl- 
hood. Still,  it  wasn't  fair  to  look  on  it  as 
entirely  a  feminine  trait;  he  knew  men,  doz- 
ens of  them,  who  were  utterly  unreliable 
when  it  came  to  keeping  appointments.  He 
wasn't  altogether  reliable,  himself.  But 
such  an  important  appointment!  Mr. 
Prince  left  the  pavilion,  to  pace  nervously  up 
and  down  before  the  boat  landing. 

Ah  !  Some  one  was  coming  through  the 
willows  —  some  one  dressed  in  white.  Mr. 
Prince  threw  his  cigarette  into  the  water,  ad- 
justed his  tie  with  uncertain  fingers,  then 
gazed  resolutely  at  the  island.  It  wouldn't 
do  to  appear  too  eager;  he  would  wait  till  she 
was  almost  beside  him  before  turning.  His 
attitude,  moreover,  would  be  that  of  one 
keeping  an  important  business  appointment, 
rather  than  that  of  a  lover  keeping  a  tryst. 
So  much  depended  on  this  meeting,  that  Mr. 
Prince  determined  to  be  impersonal,  and  de- 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


tective-like,  at  any  cost.  He  might  even  hint 
to  her  that  time  was  money  —  to  detectives, 
and  that,  as  a  class,  members  of  his  profes- 
sion did  not  like  to  be  kept  waiting  since  time 
was  often  of  supreme  importance  to  success. 

That  extra  instinct  which  lovers  seem,  at 
times,  to  possess,  told  him  she  was  now  quite 
near.  Perhaps  he  might  venture  to  turn? 

He  turned. 

This  manoeuvre,  however,  proved  fatal  to 
Mr.  Prince's  impersonal,  detective-like  man- 
ner; it  fell  from  him  as  leaves  fall  from  the 
maples  in  autumn.  For  the  glimpse  of  white 
Mr.  Prince  had  caught  through  the  willows 
had  been  a  glimpse  of  white  apron,  and  the 
girl  who  wore  it  was  the  chambermaid  who 
had  taken  the  hammock  away  from  him  ear- 
lier in  the  afternoon. 

Still,  perhaps  she  carried  a  message  from 
her?  If  she  could  send  the  chambermaid 
for  her  hammock,  she  could  also  send  her  to 
the  boathouse.  It  might  be  that,  finding  it 
impossible  to  come  herself  —  she  had  seemed 
a  bit  doubtful  about  being  able  to  come  — 
she  had  dispatched  this  girl  to  arrange  for  a 
new  appointment. 


"  Were  you  looking  for  me?  "  asked  Mr. 
Prince. 

"Oh,  no,  sir!  Mr.  Smith  sent  me  down 
to  see  if  the  boats  had  left  the  island  yet." 

"Ah!"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  I  only  see  one,"  said  the  girl.  "  I  guess 
dinner  will  be  late  to-night." 

Mr.  Prince  remained  silent.  The  girl  as- 
sured herself  that  she  had  not  overlooked 
the  second  sail,  then  turned,  and  disappeared 
through  the  fringe  of  willows.  Left  alone, 
Mr.  Prince  lighted  a  cigarette,  and,  entering 
the  pavilion,  stared  moodily  across  the  lake. 
She  hadn't  come!  She  probably  wouldn't 
come!  He  had  left  it  all  to  fate,  and  fate 
had  dealt  shabbily  with  him.  Not  that  he 
could  have  done  much  for  himself  that  after- 
noon. But  there  would  be  other  afternoons 
—  oh,  rather!  Of  course,  he  wasn't  worthy 
of  her.  He  could  be  more  worthy  of  her 
than  he  was  though.  He  would  be,  by 
George!  Besides,  if  to  feel  unworthy  were 
a  real  bar,  only  blackguards  would  go  a-woo- 
ing,  and  such  a  state  of  affairs  would  be  quite 
too  dreadful.  Mr.  Prince  drew  her  book 
from  his  pocket,  to  gaze  at  it  long  and  ear- 

43 


'QieSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


7 


nestly.  He  noticed  now,  what  he  had  not 
noticed  before:  It  was  plainly  a  detective 
story. 

"Hm!"  thought  Mr.  Prince.  "  That 
explains  several  things  —  everything,  in  fact. 
What  an  ass  I  was  not  to  have  guessed  it! 
She  had  this  book  in  her  hand  when  she 
asked  me  if  I  were  a  detective.  Power  of 
suggestion,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  Why, 
it's  as  plain  as  can  be !  " 

It  was,  of  course,  a  bit  humiliating  to  have 
made  this  discovery  so  late  in  the  day.  It 
was  discouraging,  too  —  uncommonly  dis- 
couraging. A  chap  didn't  start  building  a 
house  of  hope  every  afternoon,  nor  as  often 
as  once  in  a  blue  moon.  And  when  he  did 
start  building,  it  made  him  deuced  sad  to 
learn  he'd  been  building  on  sand.  Yet  there 
must  be  a  firmer  foundation  somewhere. 
Mr.  Prince  resolved  not  only  to  find  this 
firmer  foundation,  but  to  rear  an  edifice  on  it 
that  should  reach  the  stars.  In  the  mean- 
time, there  was  much  to  be  grateful  for. 

He  was  glad  she  liked  detective  stories, 
for  he  rather  liked  them,  himself.  Reading 
wasn't  at  all  in  his  line.  But,  once  in  a  while, 


when  there  was  nothing  better  to  do  — 
the  time  he'd  broken  three  ribs  playing 
polo,  for  instance;  he'd  read  a  thundering 
lot,  then.  Anyway,  it  was  a  good  sign. 
That  Miss  Chalmers  at  Bar  Harbor,  last 
year  —  how  she  did  run  on  about  books! 
And  he'd  never  read  a  single  one  she'd  men- 
tioned. Queer  books  by  people  with  queer 
names.  It  made  a  chap  feel  dashed  igno- 
rant. Yet  she  couldn't  swim  a  stroke,  and 
was  afraid  of  horses. 

But  the  girl  he'd  met  this  afternoon  was 
different.  She  was  crazy  about  sailing,  for 
one  thing;  she'd  said  so,  herself.  And  he'd 
wager  she  wasn't  afraid  of  anything.  Well, 
a  mouse,  perhaps,  or  a  cow.  But  there  was 
something  appealing  arid  adorable  in  being 
afraid  of  a  cow;  it  was  so  feminine.  And 
he'd  teach  her  to  ride,  if  she  didn't  already 
know  how;  and  he'd  get  up  a  party  for  a 
short  cruise  on  his  yacht ;  and  —  and  — 

Discovering  where  his  dreams  were  lead- 
ing him,  Mr.  Prince  smiled  ruefully.r 
Dreams  were  all  very  well,  but  there  was 
much  to  be  done  before  they  could  come  true. 
He  didn't  know  where  she  lived;  he  didn't1 

45 


SAPPHIRE  mCW 


even  know  her  name.  By  Jove!  Why 
hadn't  he  thought  of  it  before?  Opening 
the  book,  he  scanned  the  fly  leaf  eagerly. 
Yes,  there  it  was,  written  rather  scrawlingly 
in  pencil. 

It  wasn't  loyal,  it  was  even  absurd,  yet  Mr. 
Prince  was  greatly  disappointed;  for  the 
name  written  on  the  fly  leaf  was  "  Gladys 
Schwartz."  Mr.  Prince  felt  instinctively 
that  he  could  never  be  happy  with  a  girl 
named  Gladys  Schwartz.  She  might  be  ev- 
erything that  was  charming;  she  might  have 
eyes  like  —  like  stars,  by  George,  and  lips 
like  cherries !  But  Gladys  Schwartz !  Re- 
turning the  book  to  his  pocket,  Mr.  Prince 
rose,  and  walked  wearily  toward  the  hotel. 

When  an  ideal  is  shattered,  sharp  splinters 
are  sent  flying,  to  pierce  the  heart.  Mr. 
Prince's  heart  was  pierced  in  at  least  a  dozen 
places,  or  so  it  seemed  to  him.  He  asked 
himself  plaintively  that  time-worn  question: 
"What's  in  a  name?"  He  answered  it  by 
declaring  there  was  nothing  in  a  name. 

Gladys  Schwartz ! 

Once  more  Mr.  Prince  reasoned  with  him- 
self, but  as  he  reasoned  in  a  circle,  he  natu- 

46 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET/ 


rally  arrived,  before  long,  at  the  point  from 
which  he  had  started. 

"  It's  quite  useless,"  he  finally  decided,  "  I 
could  never  love  a  girl  named  Gladys 
Schwartz.  And  if  I  could,  she  probably 
could  never  love  me." 

So  his  meeting  with  the  girl  had  been  but 
an  incident,  after  all.  And  he  had  consid- 
ered it,  not  so  long  ago,  a  big,  breathless, 
bewildering  event.  Still,  he  had  been  mis- 
taken before.  And  he  probably  would  be 
again  —  oh,  rather  I  He'd  drive  to  the  Ken- 
wood Club  after  dinner,  and,  on  the  morrow, 
drown  his  sorrows  in  golf.  He'd  show  them 
how  to  play  the  game,  by  George!  And, 
after  he'd  won  the  tournament,  he'd  chal- 
lenge the  club's  professional,  and  beat  him. 
And  he'd  enter  his  name  for  the  Kinghaven 
Cup,  to  be  played  for  next  week  near  Pitts- 
burg.  And  then  he'd  go  somewhere  —  to 
Bar  Harbor,  perhaps.  And  after  that  — 
Mr.  Prince  sighed  dismally. 

As  he  neared  the  hotel,  however,  his 
thoughts  took  a  more  practical  turn;  he 
would  get  his  bag  from  his  car,  and  tidy  up 
a  bit  before  dinner.  No,  he  would  send  a 


SAPPHIRE  BMCELET 


boy  for  it.  A  stop  at  the  car  would  mean 
an  interview  with  Mr.  Dave  Warner,  and 
Mr.  Prince  didn't  feel  in  the  humor  for  talk- 
ing to  Mr.  Warner.  Hadn't  Mr.  Warner 
sold  him  a  speedometer?  How  the  deuce 
could  a  chap  plead  not  guilty  to  a  charge  of 
speeding,  when  he  had  a  speedometer  star- 
ing him  in  the  face?  It  was  neither  safe,  nor 
sensible,  to  know  how  fast  one  went.  Be- 
sides, there  were  far  better  speedometers  in 
the  market  than  the  Sparrow. 

"  Your  room's  ready  for  you,"  said  the 
clerk,  ringing  a  bell. 

"  Will  you  send  some  one  for  my  bag? 
It's  in  my  motor." 

"  I'll  send  for  it  at  once,"  said  the  clerk, 
pushing  the  register  toward  Mr.  Prince. 

While  he  was  writing  his  name,  the  cham- 
bermaid, whom  he  had  seen  last  at  the  boat 
landing,  appeared. 

"  Show  this  gentleman  to  Room  Sixteen," 
said  the  clerk. 

Mr.  Prince  followed  the  chambermaid  up- 
stairs, paused  while  she  unlocked  the  door, 
then  entered  his  room.  It  seemed  to  be  a 


corner  room.  It  seemed  —  By  Jove ! 
Hastening  to  the  window,  he  looked  out  on 
the  lawn.  Yes,  there  were  the  two  maples 
under  which  her  hammock  had  been  swung; 
and  this  was  the  room  she  had  pointed  out 
to  him  as  hers.  For  a  man  who  had  re- 
nounced all  thought  of  love,  Mr.  Prince  was 
extravagantly  excited. 

"  I  say,"  he  exclaimed,  "  wasn't  this  room 
occupied  —  er  —  this  afternoon  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir.  It  was  Miss  Randolph's  room. 
Her  aunt  had  the  next  one,  Number  Seven- 
teen. They  left  on  the  five  o'clock  train." 

"  Miss  Randolph!     Are  you  sure?  " 

"  Yes,  sir;  Miss  Dorothy  Randolph." 

"I  —  er — found  a  book  this  afternoon. 
It  appears  to  belong  to  a  —  er  —  Miss 
Gladys  Schwartz.  Here  it  is." 

"  Oh,  that  belongs  to  the  hotel !  "  said  the 
maid.  "  Or  at  least  I  guess  it  does.  Miss 
Schwartz  left  it  behind  when  she  went  away 
last  month.  You  can  read  it  if  you  want  to." 

"  Thank  you,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "  but  I'd 
rather  not  keep  it,  if  you  don't  mind." 

As  soon  as  the  maid  had  gone  from  the 
room,  Mr.  Prince  sank  into  a  chair  and  gazed 
49 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 

ecstatically  at  the  ceiling.  Dorothy  Ran- 
dolph! What  a  beautiful  name!  By 
George,  he'd  never  doubt  his  instinct  again! 
Something  had  told  him  he  could  never  love 
a  girl  named  Gladys  Schwartz.  And  now 
he  knew  why. 

Dorothy  Randolph  1 


-j  / 


CHAPTER  V 

SO  it  was  Miss  Dorothy  Randolph,  and 
not  Miss  Gladys  Schwartz,  who  had 
sought  his  services  as  a  detective. 
Mr.  Prince  felt  ten  years  younger,  and  at 
least  a  hundred  years  happier.  It  was 
thoughtless  of  him  not  to  have  tipped  the 
chambermaid  who  had  made  this  clear  to 
him,  but  he  would  attend  to  that  later.  In 
the  meantime  —  And  Miss  Randolph  — 
Miss  Dorothy  —  had  left,  with  her  aunt,  on 
the  five  o'clock  train.  This,  of  course,  was 
not  so  satisfactory.  Yet  it  explained  a  great 
deal  —  everything,  in  fact. 

In  the  first  place,  it  was  quite  as  he  had 
supposed;  Miss  Dorothy  had  not  been  robbed 
of  a  sapphire  bracelet.  Indeed,  now  he 
came  to  think  of  it,  she  had  never  stated  posi- 
tively that  she  had  been  robbed;  and  she  had 

51 


n 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


been  most  careful  not  to  refer  to  the  bracelet 
as  "  my  bracelet."  He  had  been  too  taken 
up  with  his  own  deceit  to  remember  it  at  the 
time,  but  he  remembered  it  perfectly  —  now. 
And  he  remembered  the  hint  of  mischief  in 
her  eyes,  the  adroitness  with  which  she  had 
evaded  his  questions.  Finally,  if  one  needed 
further  proof,  there  was  the  appointment  at 
the  boathouse  for  five  o'clock.  "  I  will  come 
if  I  can,"  she  had  said,  knowing  well  she 
couldn't  come,  as  she  was  leaving  on  the  five 
o'clock  train.  In  short,  he  had  been  most 
grievously  deceived. 

But  the  point  was  this:  She  probably 
considered  the  incident  closed,  and  therein  lay 
his  advantage ;  for  it  wasn't  closed,  not  by  a 
great  deal.  Mr.  Prince  resolved,  then  and 
there,  not  only  to  pay  her  out,  but  to  —  He 
smiled  tenderly,  which  would  lead  one  to  be- 
lieve that  his  second  resolve  was,  in  some 
way,  connected  with  sentiment  —  a  sentiment 
that  touched  the  heart  gently  to  happiness. 

Having  allowed  himself  the  luxury  of  a 
bath  and  fresh  linen,  Mr.  Prince  went  down- 
stairs. He  was  very  hungry;  he  felt,  too, 
that  a  cocktail  would  taste  uncommonly  good. 
52 


^eSAPPHEE  BRACELET 


And,  aside  from  that,  he  was  most  anxious  to 
consult  the  hotel  register. 

It  did  not  take  long  to  learn  all  the  regis- 
ter could  teach  him;  Miss  Dorothy  Randolph 
and  her  aunt  had  arrived  six  days  ago;  they 
had  registered  from  New  York;  the  aunt's 
name  was  Mrs.  Robert  Alexander.  From 
the  clerk  he  learned  that  the  five  o'clock  train 
was  the  best-equipped  train  on  the  line,  and 
that  it  should  reach  New  York  at  ten-twenty- 
three  that  evening.  So  they  had  evidently 
gone  to  New  York.  And  now  for  that  cock- 
tail. 

"  I'm  sorry,"  said  the  clerk,  "  but  we're 
strictly  temperance  in  this  hotel.  The  old 
lady  who  owns  it  had  a  son  go  to  the  bad 
through  drink,  and — " 

"I  see,"  said  Mr.  Prince.  "And,  by 
George,  I  don't  blame  her!  " 

"  Of  course  I  keep  a  flask  for  emergen- 
cies." 

"Not  for  me;  thanks.  Is  the  dining 
room  open  yet?  " 

"  It  will  be  open  in  about  fifteen  minutes. 
I'm  afraid  I  can't  give  you  a  table  to  your- 
self; we're  a  little  crowded  just  now." 


A 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  Oh,  that's  all  right,"  Mr.  Prince  replie< 
carelessly,  little  dreaming  what  an  important 
part  his  place  at  a  certain  table  in  the  dining 
room  was  to  play. 

From  his  chair  on  the  veranda,  Mr.  Prince 
surveyed  the  picnic  party  as  it  filed  past  him ; 
he  saw  a  score  of  sun-burned,  tired  faces;  he 
heard  the  young  miss  of  seventeen  implore 
the  waggish  young  man  of  thirty-seven  not 
to  make  her  laugh  any  more.  It  was  the 
waggish  young  man,  no  doubt,  to  whom  the 
lady  with  the  henna-colored  hair  referred  as 
being  "  such  an  acquisition."  She  herself 
was  such  a  dressy  lady  that  Mr.  Prince 
couldn't  help  noticing  her,  or  recognizing  her, 
later,  when  he  found  himself  sitting  next  to 
her  at  dinner. 

Mr.  Dave  Warner,  who  also  sat  at  this 
table,  greeted  Mr.  Prince  most  cordially. 

"  Well,  I  got  it  on,"  he  announced. 

"  Yes,  I  see  you  have,"  Mr.  Prince  re- 
plied absently. 

"  I  mean  the  speedometer.' 

The  speedometer,  of  course,"  said  Mr. 
Prince.     "  How  stupid  of  me !  " 

"  I  expect  you  thought  I  meant  this,"  said 


^SAPPHIRE  BMCEtET 


Mr.  Warner,  indicating  the  large  diamond 
he  wore  on  his  little  finger.  "  Won  it  in  a 
raffle  last  week.  Worth  three  hundred  if 
it's  worth  a  cent,  and  all  it  cost  me  was  a  dol- 
lar ticket.  No  luck  at  all.  What?  " 

As  Mr.  Prince  did  not  heed  his  explana- 
tion, Mr.  Warner  concluded  that  his  late 
patron  was  "  stuck  up,"  and  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  soup  before  him,  thereby  doing 
Mr.  Prince  a  grave  injustice;  for,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  truth,  Mr.  Prince  was  not  in  the  least 
"  stuck  up  ";  it  was  simply  that  he  was  pre- 
occupied. And  his  preoccupation  took  the 
form  of.  staring  at  the  lady  on  his  left,  the 
lady  with  the  henna-colored  hair. 

It  sounds  rude,  but  really  it  wasn't,  for 
his  stare  did  not  include  her  face.  Indeed, 
it  was  the  hand  that  held  her  soup  spoon 
that  interested  him.  Circling  the  wrist, 
above  this  hand,  he  had  discovered  a  brace- 
let. And  the  bracelet  was  set  with  sap- 
phires—  one,  two,  three,  four.  He 
couldn't  count  them,  of  course,  but  there 
seemed  to  be  nine  or  ten.  And  there  was 
no  mistaking  the  little  ribbon  of  diamonds 
that  ran  in  and  out,  between  the  sapphires. 
55 


"  You'd  understand  in  a  moment  if  you 
saw  it,"  the  girl  had  said,  when  he  had 
failed,  from  her  description,  to  make  a  pic- 
ture of  the  bracelet  in  his  mind.  And  now 
he  had  seen,  and  he  understood  perfectly; 
the  bracelet  the  woman  on  his  left  wore  was 
the  bracelet  Miss  Dorothy  Randolph  had 
described  —  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  it. 

Miss  Randolph  had  said  it  was  chased, 
too.  And  he  had  been  silly  enough  to  think 
she  meant  chaste.  To  make  proof  more  con- 
clusive, the  gold  part  of  the  bracelet  was 
chased  in  delicate  pattern.  And,  by  Jove, 
the  woman  wearing  the  bracelet  was  agi- 
tated! Wasn't  her  hand  trembling? 

Perhaps  the  lady  with  the  henna-colored 
hair  had  read  somewhere  that  one  should  fill 
a  soup  spoon  by  pushing  it  away,  and  not 
toward  one?  Perhaps  she  thought,  since 
the  young  man  on  her  right  continued  to 
stare  at  her  hand,  that  it  might  be  well  to 
abandon  the  latter  method  as  being  —  well, 
a  trifle  archaic?  At  all  events,  she  now 
began  to  spoon  her  soup  differently.  And 
still  the  young  man  stared. 

This,  of  course,  is  merely  a  theory.     Yet 

56 


^eSAPPHIREBMCElET 


there's  no  denying  the  lady's  hand  now 
trembled.  Indeed,  detectives  even  more  ex- 
perienced than  Mr.  Prince  would  have  agreed 
that  she  was  agitated.  And  a  visible  agita- 
tion is,  as  every  one  knows,  an  evidence  of 
mental  distress. 

Why,  then,  was  the  lady  distressed  ?  Was 
it  possible  she  wore  a  stolen  bracelet?  Was 
it  consciousness  of  guilt  that  made  her  hand 
tremble?  Or  was  it  embarrassment? 

A  swift  glance  at  her  face  told  Mr.  Prince 
that  it  was  quite  red.  Here  was  another 
suspicious  sign.  The  flush  of  shame,  and 
the  blush  of  innocence  are,  unfortunately, 
very  much  alike.  Still,  ladies  with  henna- 
colored  hair  did  not,  as  a  rule  —  Or  did 
they?  Mr.  Prince  wasn't  quite  sure 
whether  they  did  or  didn't;  he  was  positive, 
however,  that  the  bracelet  the  lady  wore 
was  the  bracelet  Miss  Randolph  had  de- 
scribed to  him  that  afternoon ;  the  matter  did 
not  admit  of  doubt. 

Assured  of  this,  Mr.  Prince  turned  his 
attention  to  his  dinner.  But  occasionally 
his  eyes  would  stray  to  the  left;  the  bracelet 
fascinated  him. 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


A  tender  twilight  had'  marked  the  close 
of  this  perfect  June  day.  But  now  stars 
were  being  scattered  over  the  sky,  while  the 
world  waited  for  the  miracle  of  night. 

Mr.  Prince  also  waited  for  a  miracle,  but 
of  another  sort.  The  miracle  he  had  in 
mind  was  one  that  should  permit  of  his  ad- 
dressing the  lady  with  the  henna-colored 
hair.  She  had  left  the  dining  room  some 
time  ago,  and  was  now  sitting  on  the  hotel 
veranda.  She  was  alone,  too.  Moreover, 
save  for  himself  and  the  lady,  the  veranda 
was  deserted.  This  surely  was  in  his  favor. 
But  now  could  he  turn  it  to  account  ? 

Mr.  Prince  hovered  near  the  precipice  of 
a  decision,  but  could  not  find  the  courage  to 
step  off  into  space.  He  might  land  on  the 
jagged  rocks  of  her  displeasure,  and  that 
would  hurt.  Besides,  it  was  dashed  un- 
gentlemanly  for  a  strange  man  to  address  a 
strange  woman,  even  when  the  woman  did 
wear  a  bracelet  that  was  — 

"  It's  a  deuced  queer  situation,  any  way 
you  look  at  it,"  Mr.  Prince  confided  to  him- 
self.    "  Hang  it  all,  I'm  blessed  if  I  know 
what  to  do!     If  she'd  only  drop  her  fan!  " 
58 


BUT  OCCASIONALLY   HIS   EYES   WOULD   STRAY  TO  THE   LEFT; 
THE    BRACELET   FASCINATED    HIM 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


Having  reduced  the  miracle  he  desired 
performed  from  a  vague,  indefinite  some- 
thing, to  the  practical  proportions  of  a  lady's 
fan,  Mr.  Prince  lighted  a  cigarette,  and 
waited. 

It  is,  of  course,  quite  impossible  that 
the  lady  with  the  fan  could  have  read  his 
thoughts,  for  Mr.  Prince's  chair  was  sepa- 
rated from  hers  by  at  least  five  feet,  and  he 
had  not  glanced  at  her  more  than  twenty 
times  since  he  had  appeared  on  the  veranda. 
Nor  could  she  have  dreamed  that,  in  drop- 
ping her  fan,  she  would  be  performing  a 
miracle.  It  is,  therefore,  idle  to  suppose 
she  would  drop  it  on  purpose,  particularly 
as  it  was  one  of  those  delicate  affairs,  of  silk 
and  ivory,  which  contact  with  the  veranda 
could  in  no  wise  improve. 

As  a  matter  of  truth,  when  the  time  came, 
it  was  her  handkerchief,  and  not  her  fan,  she 
dropped. 

Mr.  Prince,  discerning  its  first  flutter  as 
it  left  her  hand,  shot  out  of  his  chair  like  a 
rocket. 

"  Allow  me,"  he  said. 

"  Thank  you  so  much,"  said  the  lady,  ac- 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


cepting   her   property  with   apparent   grati- 
tude.    "  It's  a  beautiful  night,  isn't  it?  " 

"Ripping!  Simply  ripping!"  Mr. 
Prince  agreed,  drawing  up  his  chair. 

"  You've  thrown  away  your  cigarette. 
I'm  sorry  you  did  that." 

"  I  would  like  to  smoke,  if  you  don't 
mind,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  producing  his  gold 
case. 

"  Oh,  you  men  —  how  I  envy  you !  " 

"Do  you  really?" 

11 1  do,  indeed." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know  I  There  are  certain 
advantages.  But  we  can't  wear  pretty 
gowns  —  and  jewelry." 

"  You  have  so  much  freedom." 

"  It  doesn't  do  us  much  good,"  Mr. 
Prince  declared  gloomily;  "some  one  is 
always  getting  the  best  of  us." 

"  Are  you  unhappy,  too?  "  asked  the  lady. 

"  Er —  well  —  er  —  not  exactly." 
A  hidden  sorrow,  perhaps." 

"  Yes,  that's  it,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  I,  too,  have  known  sorrow,"  said  the 
lady. 

"  A  deuced  sorrowful  thing,  sorrow,"  Mr. 
60 


^e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


Prince  replied  uneasily.  "  I'm  fond  of 
jewelry,  though,"  he  added  tactfully. 

"  I'd  trade  all  my  jewels  —  all  —  for  hap- 
piness." 

"By  George!     Would  you?" 

"Yes,  I  would,"  said  the  lady,  a  little 
impatiently. 

"  Would  you  trade  them  for  anything 
else?  "  asked  Mr.  Prince. 

"  I  might,"  said  the  lady,  somewhat 
doubtfully. 

"  I  wouldn't  want  them  all,  of  course." 

"Well,  I  should  hope  not!  If  you  knew 
what  trouble  I  had  getting  this  sapphire 
bracelet  of  mine." 

"  I  can  guess,"  Mr.  Prince  hinted  darkly. 

"  No  you  can't,  not  in  a  thousand  years." 

"  Anyway,  it's  the  bracelet  I  want." 

"  I  must  say  I  like  your  nerve,"  said  the 
lady. 

"  I'm  sorry  if  I've  offended  you,"  said  Mr. 
Prince.  "  I  didn't  mean  to ;  I  didn't,  hon- 
estly." 

"  We'll  let  it  pass  this  once,"  said  the  lady. 

"  I'm  really  in  earnest  about  the  bracelet." 

"  You  seem  to  be,"  the  lady  replied  suspi- 


*  •*- 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


ciously.  "  I  don't  know  what  your  game  is, 
young  man,  but  I  give  it  to  you  straight; 
there's  nothing  doing." 

"  That,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "  is  for  you  to 
decide.  I  have  an  offer  to  make  that  may 
interest  you;  at  least,  there  can  be  no  harm 
in  your  listening  to  it.  And  I  think  it  will 
be  to  your  advantage,  greatly  to  your  ad- 
vantage, to  hear  what  I  have  to  say." 

What  arguments  Mr.  Prince  now  pre- 
sented, it  would  be  difficult  to  state.  He 
was,  naturally,  above  threatening  a  lady. 
But  there  are  other  methods  which  may  be 
adopted,  even  against  ladies;  and  the  lady, 
in  this  case,  was  plainly  an  adventuress. 
Then,  too,  she  loved  liberty.  Had  she  not 
said  so,  herself?  And  perhaps  the  hidden 
sorrow  she  had  referred  to  was  the  uglier 
sorrow  of  remorse?  She  had  admitted,  also, 
encountering  great  difficulty  in  acquiring  the 
bracelet.  Was  not  this  admission  more  or 
less  incriminating? 

Mr.  Prince  bent  to  the  task  before  him. 
It  wasn't  an  easy  task,  for  the  lady,  at  first, 
proved  quite  obdurate.  But  as  constant 
dripping  wears  away  a  stone,  so  was  the 
62 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


A 


lady's  obduracy  worn  away  by  the  insistent 
Mr.  Prince;  from  being  adamant,  she  be- 
came difficult,  then  merely  unreasonable. 
Having  reached  this  stage,  Mr.  Prince  saw 
it  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to  go  farther; 
she  would  never  be  reasonable,  he  decided. 
So,  letting  well  enough  alone,  he  now  pro- 
ceeded along  more  familiar  lines.  He 
would  do  this,  if  the  lady  would  do  that. 
No?  Perhaps  she  would  agree  to  this, 
then?  She  wouldn't?  Pray,  what  would 
she  agree  to?  It  ended  in  the  lady  making 
her  own  terms. 

Mr.  Prince  was,  however,  not  at  all  cast 
down  by  her  ruling  in  the  case.  A  definite 
understanding  had  been  reached,  and  that 
was  a  great  deal.  Besides,  he  had  succeeded 
in  what  he  had  set  out  to  accomplish.  He 
had  been  deucedly  diplomatic,  too,  for  he 
had  not  even  suggested  to  the  lady  that  she 
might  have  stolen  the  bracelet.  Indeed, 
there  had  been  no  scene  of  any  description, 
which  was  another  cause  for  congratulation, 
for  there  might  so  easily  have  been  a  deucedly 
disagreeable  scene. 

Mr.   Prince   rose,   threw   away  his   ciga- 

63 


<Qie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


rette,  and  bestowed  a  friendly  smile  on  his 
late  antagonist. 

"Leaving?"  asked  the  lady. 

"  Yes,  I  think  I'll  go  in  now.  Good- 
night." 

The  lady  followed  him  with  her  eyes  till 
he  disappeared  through  the  door  leading 
into  the  hotel. 

"  I'd  give  a  dollar  to  know  what  that 
kid  is  up  to,"  she  said  to  herself.  "  He's 
certainly  a  queer  one." 


CHAPTER  VI 

IN  the  hotel  parlor,  a  piano,  sadly  out 
of  tune,  was  being  played  by  a  sallow- 
faced  young  man  with  dreamy  eyes. 
He  played  rather  well,  Mr.  Prince  thought. 
But  the  young  man's  audience  evidently  did 
not  think  so,  for  they  were,  even  now,  insist- 
ing that  he  give  up  his  place  to  "  Sadie." 
After  a  proper  display  of  reluctance,  Sadie 
allowed  herself  to  be  led  to  the  piano, 
where  she  plunged,  with  a  splendid  splash, 
into  a  raging  torrent  of  ragtime. 

"  Now,  that's  what  I  call  music,"  said  a 
stout  matron.  "  I  wish  my  Mary  could  play 
like  that." 

"  Sadie  certainly  can  play,"  agreed  her 
companion.  "  I  never  knew  anybody  that 
could  get  more  out  of  a  piano." 

Although    Sadie   was    doing   her   valiant 

65 


- — ^ 


<Qie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


best  to  drown  all  conversation,  the  sallow- 
faced  young  man  couldn't  help  overhearing 
these  remarks.  He  had  been  deprived  of  his 
place  at  the  piano  for  rendering  a  Chopin 
prelude.  Smiling  sardonically,  he  mur- 
mured something  that  had  to  do  with  pearls 
and  swine. 

It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  Mr. 
Prince  saw  nothing  inimical  to  America's 
musical  future  in  the  change  of  programme. 
Indeed,  he  rather  enjoyed  Sadie's  spirited 
performance.  Besides,  just  at  present,  he 
was  in  a  quandary  as  to  what  he  should  do 
next. 

From  his  place  outside  the  parlor  door, 
Mr.  Prince  reviewed  the  past,  and  tried  to 
imagine  the  future.  Life  was  singularly  like 
a  game  of  bridge,  he  decided.  Having  de- 
clared trumps,  he  had  already  succeeded  in 
taking  one  trick  by  playing  the  knave ;  but  in 
order  to  capture  the  queen,  he  must  finesse 
with  caution.  After  studying  his  cards 
most  carefully,  Mr.  Prince  rose,  and  sought 
the  hotel  clerk,  whom  he  found  reading  a 
magazine  six  months  old  behind  the  counter 
in  the  office. 

66 


eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 

"  Sorry  to  disturb  you,"  he  said,  "  but 
when  is  the  next  train  for  New  York?  " 

"  To-morrow  morning  at  seven." 

"  Isn't  there  one  before  that?  " 

"  I'm  afraid  not,"  said  the  clerk. 
"  There  are  plenty  of  trains,  you  know,  but 
very  few  of  them  stop  at  our  station.  Were 
you  thinking  of  leaving  to-night?  " 

"  I  find  I've  got  to  be  in  New  York  early 
to-morrow  morning,"  Mr.  Prince  confided. 
"  Surely  there's  some  train  somewhere." 

How     about    your     automobile?     You 
could  get  there  in  that,  couldn't  you?  " 

"  Y-es,  I  could;  but  I'd  lose  my  way,  like 
as  not.  Besides,  I  shouldn't  care  to  drive  all 
night,  after  the  driving  I've  done  to-day." 

"  What  kind  of  a  car  have  you?  "  asked 
the  clerk. 

"  It's  a  corker!  "  Mr.  Prince  declared  en- 
thusiastically. 

"  I  mean  what  make  is  it?  " 

"It's  a  Fiat,  this  year's  model;  six  cylin- 
ders, four  speeds,  two  direct  drives.  By 
George,  but  she  can  go  I  And  does,"  Mr. 
Prince  added  reminiscently.  "  But,  I  say, 
what  has  that  got  to  do  with  it?  " 


^e  SAPPHIRE  mam 

"  I  was  thinking  you  might  get  some  one 
to  drive  for  you.  There's  a  garage  in  the 
village  that  employs  two  or  three  pretty  good 
men." 

"  That's  not  a  bad  idea !  "  exclaimed  Mr. 
Prince.  "  But  he's  got  to  be  an  experienced 
driver,  and  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  car, 
you  understand." 

"  Sure,"  said  the  clerk,  "  I  understand  per- 
fectly. Perhaps  you'd  better  do  the  tele- 
phoning yourself." 

When  Mr.  Prince  emerged  from  the 
glass-covered  box  in  which  the  telephone  was 
situated,  he  was  smiling  cheerfully. 

"  I've  got  one,"  he  announced.  "  He's 
coming  right  over  on  a  motor  cycle." 

"  Guess  I'd  better  get  busy,  and  send  for 
your  bag,"  said  the  clerk.  "  I'll  not  charge 
you  anything  for  the  room.  Dinner's  sev- 
enty-five cents." 

Mr.  Prince  eyed  the  clerk  thoughtfully. 
No,  he  didn't  seem  the  kind  to  be  offended 
by  a  —  Drawing  a  leather  case  from  his 
pocket,  he  examined  it  anxiously.  By 
Jove  I  There  was  nothing  in  it  but  a  two- 
dollar  bill !  And  he  had  meant  to  give  the 
68 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


chambermaid  who  had  shown  him  to  his 
room  a  thundering  big  tip.  He'd  spent  an 
awful  lot  of  money  since  sunrise.  But  there 
was  plenty  more  where  it  had  come  from  — • 
oh,  rather!  Besides,  he  was  almost  sure  to 
be  passing  this  way  again,  and,  in  that  event, 
neither  the  clerk  nor  the  chambermaid  would 
have  any  cause  for  complaint. 

A  series  of  irregular  explosions  announc- 
ing the  approach  of  a  motor  cycle,  Mr. 
Prince  paid  for  his  dinner,  collected  what 
was  left  of  his  two-dollar  bill,  and,  request- 
ing that  his  bag  be  sent  out  to  his  car,  has- 
tened to  the  veranda  to  meet  his  new  chauf- 
feur. 

"  Are  you  the  man  from  the  garage?  "  he 
asked,  as  the  motor  cycle,  with  a  final  cough, 
came  to  a  stop. 

"  That's  me.  Was  it  you  that  sent  for  a 
chauffeur?  " 

"  Yes.  You  are  sure  you  can  drive  a 
Fiat?" 

14  Can  I  drive  a  Fiat?  Well,  just  you 
watch  me." 

"  And  you  know  the  road  to  New  York?  " 
With  my  eyes  shut,"  declared  the  new 
69 


V 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


chauffeur.     "  I   like   driving  at  night  —  no 
constables  to  bother  you." 

"  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "  it's  bully,  isn't 
it?" 

"  It's  a  peach  of  a  night  for  a  run,  all 
right,  all  right.  My  name's  Bill.  What's 
yours  ?  " 

"  Prince  —  Morton   Prince." 

"Are  you  starting  soon,  Mr.  Prince?" 

"  At  once.  We  might  as  well  go  over  to 
the  car." 

"  I'll  wheel  my  motor  cycle  over  to  the 
barn,"  said  Bill.  "  Be  with  you  in  a  jiffy." 

There  was  something  very  pleasing  about 
Bill,  Mr.  Prince  decided.  He  was  young, 
and  strong,  and  looked  thoroughly  com- 
petent; and  he  had  a  frank,  honest,  boyish 
face. 

The  lady  with  the  henna-colored  hair  was 
still  sitting  on  the  veranda.  And  now,  as 
Mr.  Prince  passed  her  at  some  distance,  on 
his  way  to  his  car,  she  called  to  him. 

*  saving    without    saying 
she  demanded. 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  I  should  hope  not!" 

"Well  —  er  —  good-by." 

"Wait  a  minute,"  said  the  lady.  "Are 
you  the  Morton  Prince?" 

"I'm  blessed  if  I  know.     Why?" 

"  Because  if  you  are,  I  wish  I'd  known  it 
sooner." 

"  I'm  sure  I'm  not." 

"  I'll  bet  anything  you  are,"  said  the  lady. 
"  I've  read  about  you  in  the  papers  lots  of 
times;  you  play  polo,  and  are  a  great  swell." 

'  You  shouldn't  believe  everything  you 
read  in  the  papers,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  And  you're  richer  than  mud." 

"  Richer  than  some  mud,  perhaps.  But 
what  has  that  got  to  do  with  it?  " 

"  Nothing.  Only  it  would  have  had  if 
I'd  known  it  half  an  hour  ago,"  said  the 
lady.  "  Anyway,  I'll  keep  an  eye  on  you." 

"  Please  don't  bother,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  No  bother  at  all,"  said  the  lady. 

"Er  —  good-by,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  Well,  if  that  ain't  just  my  luck,"  sighed 
the  lady,  as  Mr.  Prince  disappeared  round 
the  corner  of  the  hotel.  "  I  had  him  be- 
tween my  thumb  and  finger,  and  I  let  him 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


get  away.     But  how  was  I  to  know  he  was 
Morton  Prince?  " 

For  the  first  hour  of  the  ride,  Mr.  Prince 
kept  awake;  then,  satisfied  that  Bill  was  not 
only  competent  to  run  the  car,  but  could 
drive  quite  as  well  as  he  could  himself,  Mr. 
Prince  ordered  him  to  stop. 

"  I'm  uncommonly  sleepy,"  he  explained, 
as  Bill,  somewhat  wonderingly,  applied  both 
brakes,  "  and  I'm  afraid  to  go  to  sleep,  for 
fear  I'll  fall  out." 

"  Too  bad  we  haven't  a  tonneau,"  said 
Bill. 

"  I  was  thinking  you  might  tie  me  in  with 
the  tow  rope." 

A  series  of  loops  and  knots,  and  Mr. 
Prince  was  tied  securely  in  his  seat. 

"  I  guess  you  haven't  got  any  confidence 
in  me,"  said  Bill,  with  a  joyous  grin. 

"None  at  all,"  replied  Mr.  Prince. 
"  The  fact  is,  Bill,  your  reckless  driving  has 
frightened  me  so,  I  don't  dare  keep  awake." 


CHAPTER  VII 

ARRIVING  in  New  York  about  half- 
past  two  in  the  morning,  Mr.  Prince 
borrowed     enough     money     at     his 
garage    to   provide    supper    and    a    night's 
lodging  for  Bill;  then,  letting  himself  into 
his  apartment,  promptly  went  to  bed.     He 
slept  till  eleven,  so  it  was  not  till  early  after- 
noon that  he  could  give  his  attention  to  the 
important  problem   of  locating   Miss   Ran- 
dolph's place  of  residence. 

There  were,  he  found,  eight  Robert  Alex- 
anders in  the  telephone  book;  one  of  these 
lived  on  Madison  Avenue.  Very  well,  he 
would  try  that  number  first. 

"Is  Mrs.  Robert  Alexander  at  home?" 
Mr.  Prince  asked  of  a  faint,  far-away  voice. 
"  She's  in   her  heavenly   home,   if  that's 
what  you  mean,"  the  voice  replied. 
73 


<0ie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  Oh,  I'm  so  sorry !  "  said  Mr.  Prince. 
"I  —  er  —  er  —  Good-by. 

"  Now,  that  was  dashed  awkward !  I 
hope  I  didn't  hurt  anybody's  feelings," 
thought  Mr.  Prince.  "  Here  goes  for  the 
next  number,  anyway.  I'm  bound  to  hit  it 
right  sometime." 

The  next  Mrs.  Robert  Alexander  was  at 
home. 

"  Who  is  it  wants  her,  please?  " 

"  It's  —  er  —  What  I  really  want  to 
know  is —  There  are  so  many  Mrs. 
Robert  Alexanders  in  the  book,  you  see,  and 
I'm  looking  for  a  friend  —  that  is,  a  friend 
of  a  friend  who  was  at  a  little  hotel  in  New 
Jersey  a  day  or  two  ago.  Is  this  the  Mrs. 
Alexander?  " 

"  No,  it  ain't,"  said  a  cross  voice. 

Mr.  Prince  had  no  trouble  in  talking  to 
the  next  Mrs.  Alexander,  for  she  answered 
the  telephone  in  person. 

"  Yes,  this  is  Mrs.  Alexander,"  she  said. 
"  Who  wants  me  ?  " 

"  I  do,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"Oh,  hullo!     Wait  a  minute." 

"  I  wonder  who  the  deuce  she  imagines  I 


<Qie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


am,"  thought  Mr.  Prince,  feeling  rather  un- 
comfortable. 

"  I  closed  the  door  into  the  hall,"  ex- 
plained the  voice  at  the  other  end  of  the  wire. 
"  Where  have  you  been  all  this  time,  you  bad 
boy?" 

"  Er  —  er —  Where  have  you  been?" 
replied  the  startled  Mr.  Prince. 

"  I've  been  in  town  for  a  whole  week,  and 
I'm  leaving  to-morrow  for  Tuxedo.  Can't 
you  arrange — " 

"  I'm  awfully  sorry,  but  I  can't  possibly." 

"  Why !  Why  1  You  mean  you  re- 
fuse?" 

"I  —  er  —  I'm  quite  sure  there  must 
be  some  mistake." 

"A  most  natural  mistake,  on  my  part; 
but,  believe  me,  one  that  will  hardly  occur 
again,  Mr. " 

"  Don't  say  it,"  implored  Mr.  Prince. 
"  I'm  somebody  else.  I  —  I  — " 

A  faint  click  announcing  that  the  lady  to 
whom  he  was  endeavoring  to  explain  had 
hung  up  her  receiver,  Mr.  Prince  followed 
her  example. 

"By  Jove,"  he  thought,  "this  is  awful  I 

75 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


I  suppose  there's  no  great  harm  done,  but  just 
the  same  I'm  glad  I  didn't  look  at  her  ad- 
dress." 

Half  closing  his  eyes,  Mr.  Prince  cov- 
ered with  a  card  that  portion  of  the  Alex- 
ander list  to  which  he  had  already  tele- 
phoned; then,  taking  down  his  receiver,  tried 
a  new  number.  This  time,  too,  he  changed 
his  tactics. 

"  Is  this  Miss  Randolph's  place  of  resi- 
dence?" he  asked.  "Miss  Dorothy  Ran- 
dolph?" 

'  Yes.     Do  you  wish  to  speak  to  her?  " 

"  Y-es.  That  is,  I'd  like  to  speak  to  her, 
but—" 

"  Hold  the  phone,  please." 

"I  say!  I  can't  speak  to  her  now  — 
I—" 

"  I  find  she  has  gone  out,"  Mr.  Prince 
was  informed  a  moment  later.  "  Who  shall 
I  say  rang  her  up." 

"  Mr. —  er  —  er  —  er  —  er  — " 

"Mr.  What?" 

"  Yes,  that's  it.  Thank  you  so  much. 
Good-by." 

It  would  be  hardly  wise  to  do  anything 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


that  day,  Mr.  Prince  decided.  Tomorrow 
morning,  perhaps?  At  all  events,  he  now 
knew  where  she  lived,  and  that  was  some- 
thing. 

At  four  o'clock  that  afternoon,  Mr.  Prince 
drove  his  long,  gray  car  past  a  certain  house 
in  a  certain  street;  then,  turning,  he  drove 
past  it  again.  In  appearance  it  wasn't  a 
wonderful  house  in  any  way,  yet  it  seemed  to 
interest  him. 

"  I  wonder  if  I'll  ever  be  allowed  inside 
it,"  he  thought.  "  And  I  wonder  —  Sup- 
pose you  take  the  car  now,  Bill.  We'll  go 
through  the  Park,  and  out  along  the  river  to 
a  place  I  know  where  we'll  have  tea,  and 
talk  things  over." 

"  Another  plate  of  toast,  waiter.  Have 
a  cup  of  tea,  Bill?" 

"  I've  already  had  two,  sir." 

"  Two  is  nothing  when  one  is  thirsty." 

"  I  was  thirsty,"  Bill  admitted,  whereupon 
Mr.  Prince  poured  more  tea;  then,  selecting 
a  cigarette  from  his  gold  case,  lighted  it,  and 
gazed  dreamily  across  the  Hudson. 

"That's  Fort  Lee,  ain't  it?"  asked  Bill, 


<GieSAPPrIIRE  BRACELET 


indicating  a  ferry  slip  and  a  huddle  of  houses 
on  the  New  Jersey  side. 

"  Yes,  that's  Fort  Lee." 

"  Thought  so.     I  was  there  once." 

"Do  you  drink,   Bill?" 

"  Nothing  to  speak  of." 

"  The  last  chauffeur  I  had  disgraced  me 
by  running  into  a  hansom  on  Fifth  Avenue." 

"Was  he  loaded?" 

"  Well,  he  wasn't  exactly  sober." 

"  I'd  cut  out  booze  perpetual  if  I  had  a 
good  job,"  said  Bill. 

"  I  was  thinking  you  might  suit  me,"  said 
Mr.  Prince,  "  though  I  hadn't  considered  en- 
gaging a  chauffeur  till  autumn." 

"  If  you'll  take  me,  I'll  suit  you  fine,"  Bill 
declared  earnestly ;  "  no  joy  rides,  and  no 
knocking  down  money  on  the  side  —  that's 
me.  I'd  like  to  drive  for  you,  Mr.  Prince, 
and  your  car's  a  peach.  I  wouldn't  have  to 
wear  a  uniform,  would  I?  " 

"No,  you  wouldn't  have  to  wear  livery; 
just  a  quiet  suit  of  gray,  and  black  puttees. 

"  Them's  the  leather  things  you  wear  on. 
your  legs,  ain't  they?  " 

"  Yes." 


1  Then  it's  settled,"  said  Bill.  "  Only  I 
don't  believe  there'll  be  much  doing  for  me 
in  winter  with  the  car  you  got." 

"  Oh,  I've  another  carl  Perhaps  you  no- 
ticed it  in  the  garage  —  a  blue  limousine?  " 

"  Did  I  notice  it  ?  Say,  I  was  all  over 
that  car  this  morning;  it's  foreign,  and  looks 
like  a  crackerjack." 

"  It  is,"  Mr.  Prince  admitted,  with  some 
pride.  "  And  I'll  pay  you  a  hundred  a 
month  and  board  you,  or  a  hundred  and  fifty 
a  month,  and  you  can  board  yourself." 

"  I  guess  I'll  take  the  hundred  and  fifty,  if 
it's  all  the  same  to  you." 

"Then,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "if  you're 
ready,  we'll  be  off  to  a  tailor's,  and  order  you 
some  clothes.  You  can  go  home  to-morrow, 
if  you  like,  and  get  your  things ;  and,  as  I  ex- 
pect to  be  at  the  Lake  View  Hotel  in  a  day 
or  two,  you  might  as  well  take  the  car,  and 
have  it  there  for  me  when  I  arrive.  Is  that 
satisfactory?  " 

"Mr.  Prince,"  said  Bill,  with  a  hint  of 
emotion  in  his  voice,  "  I  would  almost  die  for 
you,  and  that's  the  truth." 

Mr.  Prince  wondered  what  his  man  would 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


think  of  Bill.  He  would  never  know,  of 
course;  he  never  knew  what  Hicks  thought 
about  anything.  Not  that  he  cared  to  know. 
Indeed,  it  would  have  annoyed  him  to  look 
on  any  one  so  impersonal  and  British  as  other 
than  a  convenient  piece  of  furniture.  But 
Bill  was  different;  Bill  was  a  real  human  be- 
ing. 

"  I'm  more  of  a  human  being  myself  than 
I  was  day  before  yesterday,"  Mr.  Prince  de- 
cided. "  Why,  day  before  yesterday  all  I 
thought  of  was  motor  cars,  and  polo,  and 
golf,  and  sailing !  And  now  —  and  now  — 
Why,  now,  all  I  think  of  is  seeing  her 
again.  If  I  only  knew  when  I  would  see  her 
again  I  " 

That  evening  Mr.  Prince  dined  at  his  fa- 
vorite club,  where  his  presence  created  some 
surprise  among  such  friends  as  had  been  told 
of  his  intention  to  play  in  the  Kenwood  golf 
tournament.  That  he  refused  to  make  a 
fourth  at  bridge  after  dinner  was  also  com- 
mented upon.  It  would  have  occasioned 
even  more  surprise,  however,  if  his  friends, 
who  believed  he  had  left  the  club,  could  have 
seen  him  in  the  library,  a  dictionary  at  his 
80 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


Ibow,  a  pen  in  his  hand.  For,  behold,  Mr. 
Prince  was  writing  a  letter. 

It  must  have  been  a  difficult  letter  to  write, 
for  it  took  at  least  three  hours  to  complete  it. 
Still,  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  it  was  alto- 
gether an  unpleasant  task,  for  he  smiled  not 
infrequently.  And  the  first  time  he  referred 
to  the  dictionary,  he  almost  laughed  aloud. 

There  are,  doubtless,  many  amusing  things 
in  a  dictionary,  if  one  knows  where  to  look 
for  them.  Mr.  Prince  had  evidently  found 
one  of  these. 

"  By  George,"  he  murmured,  "  there  are 
two  p's  in  sapphire,  after  all! " 


CHAPTER  VIII 

MISS  DOROTHY  RANDOLPH 
was  thinking  of  —  oh,  a  hundred 
things.  Not  all  at  once,  to  be 
sure ;  but  it  was  evident  that  certain  thoughts 
ruled  in  pleasant  majority,  for  even  when  she 
frowned  smiles  lingered  in  the  corners  of  her 
mouth.  Here  she  was,  home  again,  and  in 
the  midst  of  packing  for  the  fortnight  to  be 
spent  with  the  Archer  Grants  at  Narragansett 
Pier;  truly  a  delightful  occupation.  Then, 
too,  the  week  at  that  dreary  little  Lake  View 
Hotel  was,  at  last,  ended.  What  a  week  I 
And  what  a  nuisance  that  Aunt  Harriet  in- 
sisted on  spending  a  week  there  every  sum- 
mer! Fifteen  years  ago,  it  might  have  been 
as  charming  as  Aunt  Harriet  pictured  it,  but 
now  nobody  went  there  save  Aunt  Harriet  —- 
and  Aunt  Harriet's  niece. 
82 


J  ^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 

r          V   *^*1*™*"*^ J__^-**' 

\/\S 

14 1  suppose  it's  a  habit,"  Aunt  Harriet's 
niece  decided,  "  and  she  has  to  go  to  that 
wretched  little  hotel  every  June,  just  as  Mary 
Patterson  has  to  go  North  every  August  to 
escape  hay  fever.  Just  the  same,  she's  a  dar- 
ling! " 

Miss  Randolph  smiled  tenderly,  frowned 
a  little,  then  smiled  again,  this  time  half- 
dreamily,  half-reluctantly;  she  was  now 
thinking  of  the  young  man  she  had  found 
asleep  in  her  hammock  one  afternoon  — 
years  ago,  it  seemed.  Could  it  be  possible  it 
was  only  day  before  yesterday?  He  had 
been  such  an  agreeably  stupid  young  man, 
and  so  amusing  in  his  deceit.  He  had  evi- 
dently been  rather  pleased  with  himself,  too. 
Well,  he  probably  wasn't  so  pleased  now. 

"  I  wonder,"  said  Miss  Randolph  to  her- 
self, "  I  wonder  how  long  he  waited  for  me 
at  the  boathouse.  And  I  wonder —  But, 
of  course,  I'll  never  see  him  again." 

Dismissing  the  agreeable  stupid  Mr. 
Prince  from  her  mind,  she  turned  to  the 
maid,  who  had  been,  all  this  while,  busily  en- 
gaged in  packing  a  large  trunk  which  stood 
in  the  center  of  the  room,  a  bedroom. 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  I  think  that  will  do  for  this  morning, 
Walker." 

"  Very  well,  Miss  Dorothy,"  said  the 
maid,  rising  from  her  knees. 

"  And,  Walker." 

"  Yes,  Miss  Dorothy." 

"  Please  tell  Saunders  I'll  have  my  lunch 
up  here." 

Aunt  Harriet  had  left  the  night  before 
to  visit  a  cousin  who  possessed  a  cottage  on 
the  shore  of  Lake  George;  Uncle  Robert, 
her  husband,  was,  at  this  moment,  playing 
a  morning  rubber  of  bridge  on  the  deck  of  a 
friend's  yacht,  somewhere  off  the  coast  of 
Maine;  so,  save  for  the  servants,  Miss  Ran- 
dolph was  quite  alone  in  her  uncle's  house, 
which,  though  pleasantly  situated  on  East 
Sixty- fourth  Street,  a  few  steps  from  Fifth 
Avenue,  was  not  now  particularly  attractive 
within  doors;  upstairs,  familiar  rugs  were 
missing,  and  downstairs,  furniture,  huddled 
in  forlorn  groups,  wore  the  white  swaddling 
clothes  of  summer.  Still,  it  was  much  better 
to  keep  the  house  open  through  the  summer 
than  to  go  to  a  hotel  when  one  came  to  town. 
Besides,  Uncle  Robert  didn't  own  a  country 
84 


W5APPHIRE  BRACELET 


house  —  he  didn't  want  to  be  bothered  with 
one  —  and  the  servants  had  to  have  some 
place  to  stay. 

"  We'll  finish  the  packing  about  four,  and 
then  I'll  go  down  to  Cousin  Julia's  for  tea," 
Miss  Randolph  decided.  "  And  maybe 
she'll  ask  me  to  dinner." 

A  messenger  boy,  small  in  stature  but  large 
in  importance,  stepped  from  a  Fifth  Avenue 
'bus,  tilted  his  cap  a  bit  more  rakishly  over 
his  left  eye;  then,  glancing  at  the  address 
written  on  the  small  package  he  carried,  pro- 
ceeded toward  his  destination  at  a  pace  not 
likely  to  disturb  the  traditions  of  his  profes- 
sion. Reaching  the  house  he  sought,  he 
swaggered  up  the  steps  and  rang  the  bell. 

"  Say,  pet,  was  you  asleep  ?  "  he  asked  as, 
after  some  delay,  the  door  was  opened  by  a 
man,  evidently  a  butler. 

"  When  you  got  packages  for  this  house, 
you  deliver  'em  at  the  kitchen  door,"  said 
the  man. 

"  When  I  got  a  bunch  of  spinach,  I  will. 
But  dis  is  a  package  fer  a  loidy,  see?  " 

"  Well,  you  give  it  here,  and  be  off  with 
you." 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  Quit  yer  sneezin',  pet.  You  don't  get 
no  package  till  you  signs  for  it." 

The  package  having  been  exchanged  for 
the  butler's  signature,  the  boy  bestowed  a 
parting  word  of  advice,  descended  the  steps, 
and  sauntered,  whistling,  toward  the  Avenue. 

Miss  Randolph,  seated  near  an  open  win- 
dow overlooking  the  little  garden  at  the  rear 
of  the  house,  was  eating  an  iced  grape-fruit 
when  Walker  appeared  with  a  package. 

"Something  for  me,  Walker?" 

"  Yes,  Miss  Dorothy." 

"  Give  it  to  me,  please." 

The  moment  Walker  withdrew,  Miss  Ran- 
dolph inspected  the  package  carefully,  weigh- 
ing it  in  her  hand. 

"  I  wonder  what  it  contains,"  she  thought. 
"  It's  small,  and  light,  and  certainly  I  am  not 
,  familiar  with  the  handwriting  of  the  ad- 
!  dress." 

The  salad  on  the  tray  before  her  looked 
most  tempting;  Jean's  hot  biscuits  were  al- 
ways good.  But  she  really  must  open  the 
package. 

Having  freed  it  of  its  wrapping  of  white 
86 


WHAT  AN    EXASPERATING  YOUNG    MAN   TO    STEAL  THE  BRACELET 
AND    SEND    IT   TO   HER  1 


SAPPHIRE  BMCEIET 


paper,  she  now  held  a  gray  box  in  her  hand; 
and  the  box  contained  an  envelope  bearing 
her  name,  and  a  great  quantity  of  tissue  pa- 
per. Perhaps  there  was  something  beside 
tissue  paper  under  the  envelope?  There 
was;  something  hard,  and  round,  and  — 
Goodness  gracious!  Was  she  dreaming? 
Miss  Randolph,  now  the  most  surprised 
young  woman  in  New  York,  gazed  with  un- 
believing eyes  at  — 

Why,  this  was  dreadful !  It  was  unheard 
of!  It  was  outrageous !  It  was  even  worse, 
for  it  could  have  happened  in  but  one  way. 
How  cowardly  of  him  to  have  placed  her  in 
such  a  position!  She  was  now  —  yes,  of 
course,  she  was  —  a  receiver  of  stolen  prop- 
erty, for  how  else  could  he  have  acquired  the 
bracelet?  What  a  little  idiot  she  had  been 
to  tell  a  strange  young  man  she  had  been 
robbed  of  a  bracelet,  when  she  hadn't! 
What  a  simpleton  she  had  been  to  describe  a 
real  bracelet,  worn  by  a  woman  —  such  a 
woman  —  at  the  hotel !  What  an  exasper- 
ating young  man  to  steal  the  bracelet  and 
send  it  to  her!  And  now,  what  would  she 
do?  And  what  would  the  woman  do? 

87 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


And  what  did  the  young  man  have  to  say 
for  himself?  Laying  the  sapphire  bracelet 
on  the  tray  before  her,  she  tore  open  the  en- 
velope, and  read: 

Miss  Dorothy  Randolph, 

Care  of  Robert  Alexander,  Esq., 
E.  64th  Street,  City. 

DEAR  Miss  RANDOLPH  :  When  you  intrusted 
me  with  the  pleasing,  if  difficult,  task  of  recover- 
ing your  sapphire  bracelet,  I  did  not  expect  to  be 
able  to  return  it  to  you  so  soon.  Indeed,  when 
you  failed  to  keep  your  appointment  with  me  at  the 
boathouse,  I  was  even  —  professionally,  of  course  — 
a  little  discouraged,  for  I  could  not  read  in  your  ab- 
sence anything  favorable  to  the  case.  • 

As  it  happened,  however,  your  leaving  by  the 
five  o'clock  train  that  afternoon  was  little  short  of  an 
inspiration,  for,  noting  your  absence,  the  culprit  was 
reckless  enough  to  wear  your  bracelet  that  evening 
at  dinner. 

Though,  naturally,  I  encountered  many  difficul- 
ties, I  will  not  go  into  details  as  to  how  I  finally 
secured  the  bracelet.  One  often  has  to  do  unpleas- 
ant things  in  my  profession,  and  confronting  guilty 
members  of  the  weaker,  if  more  stubborn,  sex  is  al- 
ways distasteful  to  a  man  possessing  high  ideals  and 
an  unswerving  loyalty  and  devotion,  which  I  need 
hardly  add  I  possess  in  full  measure. 

I  will  not  say  I  did  not  threaten  the  culprit; 
advantages  must  ever  be  pressed  before  results  can 
be  obtained.  But  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  tell  you 
that  the  culprit  will  not,  in  this  instance,  at  least, 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


K 


serve  a  term  in  prison.  Therefore,  you  need  not,  as 
it  so  often  happens,  feel  that  the  joy  of  recovering 
your  bracelet  is  dimmed  by  the  thought  of  a 
wretched  woman  crouching  disconsolately  behind 
prison  bars. 

In  closing,  will  you  permit  me  to  tell  you,  as  a 
detective  of  wide  experience  and  some  little  fame, 
that  I  have  not  only  enjoyed  solving  the  mystery 
with  which  you  so  kindly  provided  me,  but  feel  a 
real  esteem  and  admiration  for  yourself? 
Respectfully  yours, 

MORTON  PRINCE,  Detective. 

P.  S. —  Bill  for  services  rendered  will  be  sent  to 
you  at  end  of  quarter. 

From  having  been  the  most  surprised 
young  woman  in  New  York,  Miss  Randolph 
now  became  the  most  indignant.  Such  inso- 
lence !  Such  effrontery !  Such  —  such  — 
Was  ever  a  girl  placed  in  a  more  mortifying 
position?  True,  she  was,  in  a  manner,  re- 
sponsible for  being  in  such  a  position.  But 
did  that  make  it  less  mortifying?  On  the 
contrary,  it  made  it  more  mortifying,  if  any- 
thing. 

How  was  she  to  know  that  a  young  man 
could  be  so  stupid  as  to  recover  a  bracelet 
that  wasn't  stolen  —  and  send  it  to  her. 
How  had  he  learned  where  to  send  it,  by  the 
way  ?  And  how  dared  he  carry  on  this  mas- 


\ 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


querade  of  being  a  detective  when  he  must 
have  known  he  hadn't  deceived  her?  It  was 
insulting  for  him  to  suppose  he  had  deceived 
her,  even  for  a  minute.  Perhaps  this  was 
his  method  of  being  revenged?  If  so,  it 
showed  an  evil,  vindictive  spirit;  it  was 
neither  fair  nor  credible  that  an  innocent  ad- 
venture should  end  so  seriously. 

She  had  thought  of  Mr.  Morton  Prince  as 
being  an  agreeably  stupid  young  man;  he 
was,  it  seemed,  disagreeably  clever.  Or  was 
he  merely  disagreeable?  And  how  on  earth 
had  he  managed  to  coerce  the  lady  with  the 
peculiar  hair  into  giving  up  her  bracelet? 
Could  it  be  she  had  actually  stolen  it  from 
some  one  else?  But  that  was  most  unlikely. 
Yet  there  it  was  on  the  table  before  her,  its 
sapphires  gleaming  wickedly. 

And  now,  what  was  she  to  do?  The 
bracelet  must  be  returned  to  its  owner  at 
once.  But  how?  She  would  send  it  back 
to  that  unspeakable  Mr.  Prince,  only  he  had 
been  most  careful  not  to  add  his  address  to 
the  outrageous  letter  he  had  written  her. 
Of  course,  if  he  really  believed  it  was  her 
bracelet,  and  that  it  had  been  stolen  —  But 
>o 


r 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


a  man  guilty  of  saying  he  was  a  detective 
when  he  wasn't,  would  be  capable  of  'most 
anything.  Besides,  the  method  he  had 
adopted  in  sending  it  to  her  was  highly  sus- 
picious. Miss  Randolph  now  re-read  Mr. 
Prince's  suspicious  letter,  acquiring  little  from 
it  beyond  an  added  color  to  her  cheeks  and 
an  increased  look  of  anger  in  her  eyes. 

"  It  is  a  letter  such  as  no  gentleman  would 
write,"  she  decided  scornfully;  "that  is, 
unless  he  were  in —  But  that  is  too  ab- 
surd!" 

Yet  he  had  had  the  temerity  to  describe 
himself  as  a  man  possessing  high  ideals,  and 
an  unswerving  loyalty  and  devotion.  And 
he  had  ended  his  letter  by  declaring  he  felt 
a  real  esteem  and  admiration  for  her. 

"  I  honestly  believe  he  did  admire  me," 
she  told  herself.  "  Not  that  that  excuses 
him.  Still,  when  a  man  admires  a  girl,  he 
is  apt  to  be —  How  I  hate  him!  I  hope 
I'll  never  see  him  again  as  long  as  I  live! 
And  it's  very  likely  I  never  shall,"  she  added, 
with  something  not  unlike  a  sigh. 

Having  settled  this  interesting  question  of 
a  future  meeting  with  Mr.  Prince,  she  dis- 


<Gie$APPrIIRE  BRACELET 


missed  him  peremptorily  from  her  mind. 
So,  if  he  refused  to  remain  dismissed,  it  was 
certainly  not  her  fault.  Besides,  a  girl  is 
always  at  liberty  to  think  of  a  man  she  hates. 
And,  of  course,  there  could  be  no  doubt  that 
Miss  Randolph  hated  Mr.  Prince.  Had  she 
not  said  so  herself? 

And  now  to  decide  a  more  vexing  ques- 
tion: how  to  return  the  bracelet.  She 
couldn't  send  it  direct  to  its  owner,  for  the 
reason  that  she  didn't  know  her  name.  In  a 
little  hotel,  one  is  apt  to  learn  the  names  of 
all  the  guests  —  in  time.  But  the  lady  with 
the  queer-colored  hair  had  only  arrived  the 
day  before  she  and  Aunt  Harriet  had  left 
for  New  York.  She  might  send  it  to  the 
clerk  of  the  hotel,  with  a  note  of  explanation. 
But  that  would  be  embarrassing,  unless  it 
were  sent  anonymously,  and  certainly  she  was 
not  one  to  write  an  anonymous  letter. 

It  was  evident,  then  —  alas,  too  evident! 
—  that  she  must  return  the  bracelet  in  per- 
son. And,  since  it  is  always  best  to  per- 
form unpleasant  duties  at  once,  she  would 
leave  —  yes,  she  would  leave  for  the  Lake 
View  Hotel  that  very  afternoon.  The  two- 
92 


SAPPHIRE  mam 


o'clock  train  would  get  her  there  shortly  after 
seven ;  she  would  take  Walker  with  her  — 
no,  she  wouldn't,  either.  It  would  be  mak- 
ing a  tiresome  trip,  on  a  tiresome  errand. 
But  there  was  one  thing  in  her  favor:  that 
impossible  Mr.  Prince  was  undoubtedly  in. 
New  York,  and  by  going  to  the  Lake  View 
Hotel  at  once,  all  chance  of  encounter  with 
him  would  be  eliminated.  Yes,  she  would  go 
that  afternoon. 

Having  reached  this  important  decision, 
the  anger  and  resentment  she  had  felt  to- 
ward Mr.  Prince  gave  place  to  a  grudging 
admiration;  she  couldn't  help  admiring  him 
just  a  little  bit.  Not  every  man,  having 
taken  the  role  of  detective  at  a  moment's 
notice,  could  have  played  it  so  spiritedly,  she 
was  sure.  True,  his  deceit  had  been  as 
highly  colored  as  a  magic-lantern  slide,  and 
quite  as  transparent;  but,  in  succeeding  in 
what  he  had  agreed  to  do,  he  had,  in  a  man- 
ner, accomplished  a  miracle,  and  one  didn't 
meet  young  men  every  day  who  could  work 
miracles. 

The  worst  of  it  was,  he  would  probably 
never  know  what  he  really  had  done.  Im- 


agine  his  surprise  on  being  informed  that  he 
had  recovered  a  sapphire  bracelet  that  had 
never  been  stolen  for  a  girl  who  had  never 
owned  one.  Truly,  he  was  a  most  original 
detective.  Of  course,  his  success  —  if  one 
could  call  it  that  —  had  been  due  to  a  series/ 
of  inspired  blunders.  Still,  they  were  amus- 
ing blunders.  And  the  bracelet  was  really 
beautiful,  the  kind  of  bracelet  she  liked 
best;  and  she  had  always  loved  sapphires. 
There  could  be  no  harm  in  seeing  how  it 
would  look  on  her  wrist. 

It  looked  uncommonly  well  there,  and  was 
so  light,  and  pretty,  and  pleasant  to  wear! 
If  it  were  hers,  she  would  wear  it  often. 

But  it  wasn't  hers.  Moreover,  in  its  tem- 
porary possession  lay  the  necessity  of  making 
a  tiresome  trip  that  afternoon  to  a  tiresome 
hotel;  and  there  would  be  a  tiresome  expla- 
nation to  make  to  a  tiresome  woman  with 
extraordinary  hair.  What  on  earth  could 
she  tell  the  woman,  anyway?  But  she 
wouldn't  worry  about  that,  now ;  there  would 
be  five  hours  on  the  train  in  which  to  think 
of  something  plausible  to  say.  Slipping  the 
bracelet  over  her  hand,  she  laid  it  in  its  boxt 


^Se  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


then  sighed  dispiritedly;  Mr.  Prince's  idiocy 
was  troubling  her  again. 

It  would  be  such  a  comfort  to  point  out  to 
him  what  a  really  appalling  thing  he  had 
done,  and  that  comfort  was  forever  denied 
her;  for,  in  the  first  place,  she  could  never  do 
this  without  incriminating  herself,  and,  in  the 
second  place,  she  would  probably  never  see 
him  again.  Naturally,  she  never  wanted  to 
see  him  again.  Yet  it  seemed  too  bad  that 
he  should  go  down  to  the  grave  in  ignorance 
of  what  he  had  done.  Also,  there  would  be 
a  certain  pleasure  in  proving  to  him  that  he 
was  very  stupid,  and  putting  him  in  his  place 
generally.  If  ever  a  young  man  needed  dis- 
ciplining, Mr.  Prince  was  that  young  man; 
without  this  discipline,  he  would  go  on  grow- 
ing more  self-satisfied  every  day.  The 
thought  was  infuriating. 

Miss  Randolph  resolved  if  she  ever  did 
meet  Mr.  Prince  again,  she  would  deal  with 
him  according  to  his  deserts.  She  almost 
hoped  he  was  —  well,  just  the  least  bit  at- 
tracted toward  her,  for  that  would  make  his 
subjugation  so  much  the  easier.  Not  that  she 
viewed  him  as  a  possible  —  Oh,  dear,  no  I 
95 


„ — „, 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


But  she  felt  she  would  sleep  better,  and  the 
world  would  be  a  happier  place,  if  she  could 
pay  him  out  in  some  way.  As  matters  stood, 
he  was  distinctly  ahead  in  the  foolish,  ex- 
travagant game  they  had  played,  and  for  him 
to  occupy  this  leading  position  indefinitely 
was  something  no  girl  with  an  ounce  of  spirit 
could  willingly  permit.  At  whatever  pains, 
she  must  secure  his  fitting  humiliation. 

"  I  can't  for  the  life  of  me  see  how  it  can 
be  done,  but  I  simply  must  get  even  with 
him,"  she  decided. 

Having  reached  this  very  human  decision, 
she  placed  the  gray  box  containing  the  sap- 
phire bracelet  in  a  small  hand  bag,  rang  for 
Walker,  then,  telephoning,  ordered  a  taxi- 
cab  to  be  at  the  house  at  a  quarter  past  one. 
Of  course,  she  would  only  stop  at  the  Lake 
View  Hotel  one  night,  and,  of  course,  she 
would  see  no  one  there  whom  she  knew. 
Still,  there  was  no  harm  in  taking  an  extra 
gown.  Some  one  had  intimated  once  that 
blue  might  be  becoming  to  her,  and  she  had 
a  heavenly  blue  organdie. 

It  was  idle  to  suppose  he  would  be  there  to 
see  it.  But  it  was  always  best  to  go  pre- 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


pared  for  emergencies.  Besides,  one  never 
could  tell  what  amateur  detectives  might  be 
doing,  or  where  they  might  not  be.  Oh, 
never! 


CHAPTER  IX 

AS  a  train  was  leaving  the  station  at 
Jersey  City,  a  young  man,  very  much 
out  of  breath,  swung  himself  aboard, 
and  entered  the  buffet  car. 

"  A  deuced  narrow  shave,  that,"  he  con- 
fided to  the  negro  who  took  his  bag.  "  Bring 
me  a  pint  of  Apollinaris,  please.  And, 
boy!" 

"  Yeh-sah." 

"  Get  me  a  seat  in  the  parlor  car,  will  you  ? 
Here's  my  ticket,  and  here's  five  dollars." 

"  Yeh-sah.     In  a  minute,  sah." 

Left  to  himself,  the  young  man  looked 
about  him.  Satisfied  there  was  no  one  whom 
he  knew  in  the  car,  he  now  lighted  a  cigarette. 

"  I'm  blessed  if  I  know  why  I'm  here,"  he 
thought  half-impatiently.  "  There's  little 
to  be  gained  by  going  to-day;  to-morrow 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


would  have  done  quite  as  well,  and  would 
have  saved  me  all  this  hurry.  On  the  whole, 
though,  perhaps  it  was  wiser  to  go  to-day; 
she'll  send  the  bracelet  to  that  woman  as 
quick  as  ever  she  can,  and  there's  no  harm  in 
being  on  hand  when  it  arrives.  I  don't  want 
the  bracelet,  but  I'm  dashed  if  I'm  going  to 
let  that  woman  have  it.  She'll  probably  try 
and  hang  on  to  it,  but  I'll  get  it  from  her, 
one  way  or  another,  just  as  sure  as  my  name's 
Morton  Prince !  " 

For  those  who  love  color,  the  New  Jersey 
landscape,  as  seen  from  a  car  window,  is  most 
satisfying,  for,  planted  at  convenient  dis- 
tances on  either  side  of  the  track,  immense 
signs  proclaim  in  vivid  greens,  and  reds,  and 
blues,  and  with  easy  alliteration,  the  supe- 
riority of  such  excellent  commercial  products 
as  Kornblum's  Korrect  Klothes,  Breedin's 
Buttercup  Brandy,  Solomon's  Sanitary  Shoes 
in  Salutary  Shapes.  Moreover,  a  poet 
possessed  of  the  talent  for  reading  these  signs 
aright  would  speak  of  them  as  feathers  from 
the  Great  American  Eagle,  and  would  tell 
you,  in  all  sincerity,  that  their  vivid  coloring 
99 


was  but  the  echo  of  that  extraordinary  bird's 
scream. 

From  his  seat  in  the  parlor  car,  Mr. 
Prince  gazed  through  a  window.  Being 
no  poet,  however,  the  huge  painted  signs  he 
saw  did  little  more  for  him  than  make  him  a 
trifle  dizzy. 

"  Confounded  nuisance,  this  going  places 
in  trains!"  he  reflected.  "I  wish —  By 
George !  " 

Though  Mr.  Prince  leaned  forward 
eagerly,  he  was  not  done  with  reflections,  for 
there  happened  to  be  a  small  mirror  set, 
panel-wise,  beside  the  window.  And  in  that 
mirror  he  had  caught —  But,  no,  it 
couldn't  be. 

If  she  would  only  turn  her  head  again! 
No.  Yes.  No.  There!  By  George,  it 
was!  There  could  be  no  manner  of  doubt: 
it  was  the  girl. 

.  She  was  reading  a  magazine,  and  her  back 
was  toward  the  door  by  which  he  had  en- 
tered; the  chair  in  which  she  sat  was  farther 
down  the  aisle  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
car,  so,  of  course,  he  had  not  passed  her.  It 
was  very  probable,  then>  that  she  had  not  seen 
100 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 

him  enter,  and  was  quite  unaware  of  his 
presence. 

"  I  wonder,"  thought  Mr.  Prince,  "  if 
she'd  be  angry  of  I  were  to  speak  to  her. 
Why  shouldn't  I  speak  to  her?  Am  I  not 
a  detective,  and  haven't  I  just  rendered  her 
great  service?  " 

While  this  sounded  plausible,  it  was,  alas, 
as  Mr.  Prince  realized  only  too  well,  strictly 
untrue;  he  was  not  a  detective,  and  instead 
of  rendering  Miss  Randolph  a  service,  he  had 
probably  caused  her  great  annoyance.  And 
she  might  imagine  he  was  following  her. 
Yet  it  would  be  worse  than  stupid;  it  would 
be  criminal  not  to  press  the  advantage  fate 
so  kindly  offered.  Besides,  he  had  rather 
the  best  of  her  in  that  it  was  almost  certain 
she  still  believed  him  to  have  acted  in  good 
faith  in  returning  the  bracelet;  she  simply 
couldn't  have  guessed  he  had  known  it 
wasn't  hers.  This  being  the  case,  she 
wouldn't  dare  appear  other  than  grateful. 

"  If  I  do  speak  to  her,  she  will  probably 
begin  by  thanking  the  detective,  and  end  by 
snubbing  me,"  Mr.  Prince  prophesied 
gloomily.  "  And  I'm  hanged  if  I  wouldn't 

101 


^e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


deserve  it!  Just  the  same,  I'm  going  to 
speak  to  her;  I've  simply  got  to,  that's  all 
there  is  to  it." 

It  is,  perhaps,  to  his  credit  that  it  took 
Mr.  Prince  at  least  ten  minutes  to  find  the 
courage  necessary  to  the  fulfilment  of  his 
resolve;  he  counted  the  people  in  the  car  — 
six,  including  himself.  Very  good.  He  ad- 
justed his  tie,  smoothed  his  hair  with  his  fin- 
gers, glanced  at  his  watch;  he  glanced  at  his 
watch,  smoothed  his  hair,  adjusted  his  tie. 
By  George,  he  would  speak  to  her!  Draw- 
ing a  handkerchief  from  his  pocket,  he  now 
flicked  some  imaginary  dust  from  his  shoes; 
he  fingered  his  tie  again.  His  confounded 
hair  must  need  trimming;  his  confounded 
watch  was  ticking  all-precious  moments, 
and  —  By  Jove,  she  had  turned !  She  was 
looking  at  him!  She  was  —  yes,  she  was 
actually  smiling  at  him ! 

"  Dear  me,"  said  the  mendacious  Mr. 
Prince,  "  what  a  pleasant  surprise  1  And  to 
think  we  should  have  discovered  each  other 
at  the  same  moment!  Why,  it's  —  it's  ex- 
traordinary! May  I  sit  down?  " 

102 


"BUT  FIRST,  I  WANT  TO  THANK  YOU  FOR  RETURNING  THE 
SAPPHIRE  BRACELET" 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 

"  Please  do." 

"  I  can't  be  glad  enough  I  happened  to 
take  this  train." 

"  Did  you  say  happened?  " 

"I  believe  I  did;  I  —  I— " 

"  I  thought  perhaps  you  might  be  trailing 
a  criminal,"  said  Miss  Randolph.  "  In- 
deed, I  had  already  made  up  my  mind  it 
was  the  man  with  the  gray  hair  in  chair  num- 
ber seven.  Don't  tell  me  I'm  wrong." 

"  I  won't,"  Mr.  Prince  replied  cheerfully. 

"  We  women  rather  pride  ourselves  on  our 
intuition,  you  know." 

"  I  don't  blame  you,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  Then  you  are  following  the  man  with 
the  gray  hair?  " 

"  Why  bother  about  business?  " 

"  Oh,  if  you  do  not  wish  to  tell  me !  " 

"  I'd  tell  you  anything,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  Anything  except  what  I  wish  to  know, 
perhaps." 

"  Are  you  fond  of  motoring,  Miss  Ran- 
dolph?" 

"  Are  you  trying  to  change  the  subject, 
:Mr.  Prince?" 

"  Er  —  no.     And  I  jolly  well  couldn't  if 


/T 


^e  SAPPHIRE 


I  wanted  to,"  Mr.  Prince  answered  some- 
what sulkily. 

"  Then  it  is  the  man  with  the  gray  hair 
whom  you  are  following?  " 

"  You've  guessed  it,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 
"  And  guessed  wrong,"  he  added  under  his 
breath. 

"  I'm  glad  you  have  confided  in  me,  for  I 
think  I  can  help  you.  But  first  I  want  to 
thank  you  for  returning  the  sapphire  brace- 
let." 

"  Oh,  that  was  nothing,"  Mr.  Prince  re- 
plied uneasily. 

"  And  to  pay  you  for  your  trouble." 

Mr.  Prince  sat  fascinated  while  Miss 
Randolph  opened  her  hand  bag,  drew  there- 
from a  gold  purse,  and  proceeded  to  count 
out  four  one  dollar  bills. 

"There!"  she  said,  holding  the  bills 
toward  him.  "  Please  count  them  and  see  if 
they're  right." 

"  But  you  weren't  to  pay  me  till  the  end 
of  the  quarter;  I  can't  accept  them  now  —  I 
can't  honestly !  " 

"  I  must  insist  on  your  taking  them  now." 

"  Please  don't  insist." 


TSeSAPPHIKE  BRACELET 

"Ah,  I  see;  you  are  not  content  with  so 
small  a  sum." 

"  It's  the  sum  agreed  upon,  and  I'm  more 
than  content  with  it.  But  I  —  I  — " 

"  Then  take  it." 

Realizing  there  was  no  way  out  of  it,  Mr. 
Prince  accepted  the  four  green  bills,  and, 
folding  them  carefully,  placed  them  in  the 
only  pocket  of  his  waistcoat  that  seemed  to 
be  anywhere  near  his  heart. 

"  I  never  knew  detectives  were  so  reluc- 
tant to  take  money,"  said  Miss  Randolph. 

"  It's  the  inconvenience  of  the  thing,"  Mr. 
Prince  explained.  "  It  upsets  the  —  er  — 
my  bookkeeper  to  have  money  come  in  be- 
fore it's  due." 

"  I'm  afraid  I  haven't  fully  expressed  my 
thanks  for  the  return  of  the  bracelet." 

"Were  you  really  glad  to  get  it?  "  asked 
Mr.  Prince,  intent  on  paying  his  late  client 
out  for  having  made  him  accept  the  four 
dollars. 

"  Doesn't  that  go  without  saying?  " 

"  I'll  wager  you  were  surprised,  though." 

"  I  was  surprised,"  Miss  Randolph  ad- 
mitted. "  I'm  sure  you'll  forgive  me  for 


A 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


saying  it  now  that  you  have  proved  how  capa- 
ble you  are ;  but,  do  you  know,  you  impressed 
me  at  first  as  being  a  man  utterly  unqualified 
for  your  profession." 

"How's  that?"  Mr.  Prince  demanded. 
'  You  seemed  to  lack  tact." 

"  I  fancy  I  have  as  much  as  most." 

"  As  most  detectives,  perhaps.  But,  after 
all,  why  should  you  need  more?  " 

"I  —  er  —  I  feel  I  need  a  lot  more,"  Mr. 
Prince  replied  humbly.  "  What  would  you 
say,  Miss  Randolph  —  er  —  what  would  you 
say  if  I  were  to  tell  you  I  am  not  a  detect- 
ive?" 

14 1  should  agree  with  you." 

"What?" 

'  That  you  needed  more  tact,"  Miss  Ran- 
dolph concluded  evenly. 

'  There's  only  one  thing  I  really  need," 
Mr.  Prince  declared.  "  Can  you  guess 
what  it  is?" 

"  No,  I  can't,"  said  Miss  Randolph,  "  un- 
less it's  assurance." 

"  Oh,  I  say,  that's  unkind !  " 

"  But  isn't  it  true  that  you  sometimes  feel 
uncomfortable  and  not  quite  sure  of  yourself 
106 


when  addressing  people  who  are  —  well,  a 
bit  above  you  in  station?  " 

"  Er  —  perhaps  I  do.  I  hadn't  noticed 
it." 

"  I've  noticed  it  from  the  very  start,"  said 
Miss  Randolph.  "  Speaking  of  stations,  has 
it  occurred  to  you  your  quarry  may  try  to 
give  you  the  slip  ?  " 

"My  quarry?" 

"  Yes,  the  man  with  the  gray  hair  whom 
you  are  following.  Do  tell  what  he  has 
done." 

"  Why,  he  —  he's  robbed  a  bank." 

"  Dear  me !     And  he  looks  so  gentle." 

"  It's  the  gentle  criminals  that  are  the  most 
dangerous,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  nodding  his 
head  wisely.  "  If  I  were  to  tell  you  — " 

"  I  don't  believe  you'll  have  time,"  said 
the  girl.  "  I  heard  him  tell  the  porter  he 
was  getting  off  at  the  next  station,  and  we're 
almost  there." 

Mr.  Prince  regarded  the  gray-haired 
criminal  anxiously.  He  was  undoubtedly 
preparing  to  leave  the  train  at  the  next  sta- 


OJ^QT 

ViN-^..*  *"•   »  ^^--.^.^j*^ 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  mam 


the  platform  when  he  gets  off,"  warned  the 
girl.     "  Otherwise,  you  might  lose  him." 

"  I've  a  good  notion  to  let  him  escape," 
said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  You  mustn't  think  of  it." 

"  He  has  a  wife,  and  ten  children." 

"  All  the  more  reason  he  shouldn't  es- 
cape. Think  of  the  hundreds  of  wives  and 
children  and  orphans  he's  robbed." 

"I  don't  care;  I'm  going  to  let  him  es- 
cape." 

"  That,"  said  the  girl  gravely,  "  would  be 
very  dishonorable,  since  you  know  him  to  be 
a  dangerous  criminal.  And,  of  course,  you 
wouldn't  do  anything  dishonorable." 

"  No,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "  of  course  not. 
That  is—  Oh,  bother!" 

"  The  train  is  stopping,"  said  the  girl. 
"  You  must  make  up  your  mind  at  once. 
I  shall  never  speak  to  you  again  if  you  don't 
go,"  she  added  demurely. 

"  I  hope  you  didn't  think  I  seriously  in- 
tended not  going?  "  Mr.  Prince  replied,  with 
some  dignity. 

"  Oh,  no !  I  was  sure  you  would  go  from 
the  very  first." 

1 08. 


<Gie$APPHIRE  BRACELET 

]r^^ , _^> 


11  By  George,  I  believe  you !  Good-after* 
noon,  Miss  Randolph." 

"  Good-afternoon,  Mr.  Prince,  and  good 
luck  with  your  criminal.  Before  you  go, 
would  you  mind  opening  my  window  ?  " 

From  the  open  window,  it  was  possible  to 
see  Mr.  Prince  descend  from  the  car.  Miss 
Randolph  watched  him  till  he  disappeared 
round  the  corner  of  a  building;  then,  shutting 
the  window,  sank  back  in  her  chair,  and 
opened  a  magazine  wherein  she  read  what 
must  have  been,  judging  from  her  frequent 
smiles,  a  most  amusing  story. 


CHAPTER  X 

WHEN  Mr.  Prince  stepped  off  the 
train  behind  the  gray-haired  man 
whom  he  had  so  slanderously  de- 
scribed as  a  criminal,  he  was  frankly  out  of 
humor  with  himself.     Yet  he  could  not  help 
admiring  the  method  by  which  Miss  Ran- 
dolph had  got  rid  of  him;  she  had  been  so 
adroit,  and  he  had  stepped  into  the  trap  she 
had  laid  so  unsuspectingly! 

"  Serves  me  jolly  well  right  for  being  so 
dashed  stupid!"  he  told  himself.  "But 
how  the  deuce  was  I  to  know  where  she  was 
leading  me?  " 

And  he  had  rather  fancied  himself  at  the 
time,  had  been  even  pleased  by  the  picture 
he  had  drawn  of  the  gray-haired  criminal. 
Come  to  think  of  it,  it  was  the  girl  who  had 
drawn  the  picture;  all  he  had  done  was  to 
no 


^SAPPHIRE  BMCEIET 


sign  his  name  to  it.  And  in  appending  his 
signature,  he  had  signed  a  warrant  for  his 
dismissal  from  —  from  heaven.  It  was 
plain,  then,  that  there  was  but  one  thing  to 
do ;  to  return  to  heaven  as  quickly  as  possible ; 
which  meant,  of  course,  that  he  must  catch 
the  next  train  for  the  Lake  View  Hotel.  Or 
perhaps  —  By  Jove,  why  hadn't  he  thought 
of  it  before! 

When  Mr.  Prince  had  disappeared  from 
Miss  Randolph's  sight,  it  had  been  round  a 
corner  of  the  station  building;  when  he  again 
appeared  where  she  could  have  seen  him  had 
she  been  leaning  out  of  an  open  window,  it 
was  at  the  other  end  of  the  station.  Even 
then  she  might  have  missed  him,  for  there 
were  convenient  trucks,  laden  with  boxes,  to 
obstruct  her  view.  Using  these  trucks  as  a 
shield,  Mr.  Prince  made,  as  rapidly  as 
caution  would  permit,  toward  a  certain  plat- 
form very  near  the  engine,  arriving  there 
just  as  the  conductor  gave  the  signal  for  the 
train  to  start.  Then,  by  opening  several 
doors,  and  journeying  the  length  of  several 
aisles,  he  found  himself  once  more  in  the 
buffet  car. 

Ill 


^SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


It  was  maddening  that,  with  Miss  Ran- 
dolph so  near,  he  could  not  go  to  her ;  but  it 
was  a  jolly  lot  better  to  be  where  he  was, 
than  to  be  kicking  his  heels  in  a  sleepy  little 
village,  waiting  for  the  next  train.  Of 
course,  he'd  either  have  to  ride  past  the  Lake 
View  Hotel  station,  or  get  off  somewhere  this 
side.  He'd  have  the  porter  bring  him  a 
time-table. 

"  Do  you  know  anything  about  this 
place?"  Mr.  Prince  asked,  pointing  to  the 
time-table. 

"  Yeh-sah." 

"How  large  a  place  is  it." 

"  It's  quite  a  town,  sah." 

"  Does  it  boast  a  garage?  " 

"  It  don't  boast  none,  but  it's  got  'em. 
Oh,  Lawd,  yeh-sah  !  " 

"  How  many  miles  this  side  of  the  Lake 
View  Hotel  is  it?" 

"  'Bout  eight  miles,  boss." 

"  And  can  you  tell  me  the  name  of  one  of 
the  garages  ?  " 

"  'Deed  I  can,  sah.     It  am  the  Pioneah." 

"The  Pioneer  Garage?  Good!  Now 
get  me  a  telegraph  form,  please." 

112 


^e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 

]f"^s^  ^O/ 

A  dollar  bill  having  been  pressed  into  his 
hand  as  a  preface  to  the  foregoing  conversa- 
tion, the  porter  was  only  too  happy  to  oblige 
Mr.  Prince. 

"  Heah's  them  fohms,"  he  announced  a 
moment  later. 

11  And  what  direction  is  that?"  asked  Mr. 
Prince,  pointing  toward  the  window  by 
which  he  sat. 

11  That's  east,  sah." 

"Thank  you." 

Mr.  Prince  now  turned  his  attention  to 
composing  a  telegram  which,  when  com- 
pleted, read: 

Pioneer  Garage,  Cloverdale,  N.  J. 

Please  have  your  fastest  car  at  station  to  meet 
train  due  six  thirty-five.  Important.  Will  pay  lib- 
erally. Look  for  me  on  east  side  of  track. 

MORTON  PRINCE. 

After  handing  this  to  the  porter  with  in- 
structions that  it  be  wired  from  the  next  stop- 
ping place,  Mr.  Prince  proceeded  to  congrat- 
ulate himself;  if  all  went  well,  he  would 
arrive  at  the  Lake  View  Hotel  almost  as 
soon  as  Miss  Randolph.  And,  since  her 
chair  was  on  the  west  side  of  the  train,  he 


<GieSAPPrIIRE  BRACELET 


could  feel  reasonably  safe  in  alighting  from 
the  east  side.  He  only  hoped  the  Pioneer 
Garage  would  supply  him  with  a  fast  car, 
and  a  good  driver. 

Mr.  Prince  now  decided  it  might  be  well 
to  think  of  dinner  —  not  a  real  dinner,  of 
course,  for  he  dared  not  enter  the  dining-car. 
But  his  friend  the  porter  would  see  that  he 
got  a  plate  of  sandwiches  from  somewhere, 
and  there  were  far  worse  dinners  than  a  plate 
of  sandwiches,  and  a  pint  of  ale.  Oh 
rather ! 

As  the  train  neared  Cloverdale,  Mr. 
Prince  grew  more  and  more  nervous.  Sup- 
posing no  motor  car  met  him?  Supposing 
Miss  Randolph  should  be  sitting  by  an  east 
window  in  the  dining-car,  and  should  see  him. 
alight?  But  here  was  a  far  better  suppos- 
ing :  supposing,  since  it  took  the  'bus  ten  min- 
utes to  make  the  trip  from  the  station  to  the 
Lake  View  Hotel  —  supposing  he  should 
get  there  first,  should  be  on  the  veranda  when 
Miss  Randolph  arrived?  That  would  be 
simply  splendid !  Followed  by  the  obliging 
porter,  Mr.  Prince  moved  forward  as  far  as 
114 


V 


\ 


<Qie$APPHIREmCELET 


the  baggage-car,  where  he  took  up  his  posi- 
tion on  the  lowest  step  leading  from  the  east 
side  of  the  platform. 

The  train  was  now  entering  the  station. 
And  there  was  a  motor  car  near  the  track 
that  looked  like  a  perfect  hummer. 

"  By  George,  this  is  luck!  "  thought  Mr. 
Prince.  "  Now  to  make  a  run  for  it.  I'm 
dashed  if  I  don't  believe  I'll  get  there  be- 
fore she  does,  after  all !  " 

Mr.  Prince  covered  the  few  feet  that  sep- 
arated him  from  the  big  blue  touring  car  in 
no  time.  Flinging  his  bag  into  the  tonneau, 
he  followed  it  rapidly,  and,  spying  a  rug  on 
the  floor,  proceeded  to  muffle  his  face  in  it. 

"  No  use  taking  any  chances,"  he  told  him- 
self. "Here!  What  are  you  doing?" 

Although  this  last  question  was  addressed 
to  the  chauffeur  in  charge  of  the  car,  it  was 
very  evident  what  he  was  doing. 

"  I  say,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Prince,  "  leave 
the  rug  alone,  will  you?  " 

"  And  I  say  you  get  out  of  there,"  re- 
torted the  chauffeur,  pulling  at  the  rug. 
"  What  in  blazes  are  you  doing  in  there,  any- 
way? " 


r  \ 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  I'm  hiding  from  some  one,  you  idiot !  " 

"  Oh,  you  are,  are  you?  " 

"  Yes,  I  am,"  snapped  Mr.  Prince. 
"  And  I  advise  you  to  start  your  engine,  and 
take  me  where  I  want  to  go." 

"  You  wasn't  wanting  to  go  to  the  police 
station,  was  you?  " 

"  Certainly  not." 

"  I  thought  as  much,"  said  the  chauffeur. 

"  Look  here,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "  who  the 
deuce  are  you  ?  " 

"  It's  none  of  your  business  who  I  am." 

"  I'll  jolly  soon  make  it  my  business !  " 
declared  the  now  thoroughly  angry  Mr. 
Prince.  "  I'll  report  you  to  your  employer." 

"  Go  to  it,"  said  the  chauffeur. 

"  What's  the  row,  Carter?  "  asked  a  deep 
bass  voice. 

"  This  young  smart  Aleck  slid  off  the 
train,  dived  into  the  tonneau,  sir,  and  cov- 
ered himself  with  a  rug.  Guess  he's  trying 
to  escape  from  the  police." 

"  I'm  not,  either,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  re- 
garding with  a  speculative  eye  the  important- 
looking  man  who  had  addressed  the  chauffeur 
as  Carter.  "  I  wired  the  Pioneer  Garage  to 
1x6 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


have  a  car  meet  me  here,  and  I  supposed  this 
was  it.  Is  it?  Or  isn't  it?" 

"  The  car  is  mine,"  said  the  important- 
looking  man.  "  It  could  hardly  be  mistaken 
for  a  livery  car,"  he  added  pompously. 

"  It  could,  because  it  was,"  said  Mr. 
Prince. 

"  Are  you  going  to  get  out  of  there,  or 
ain't  you  ?  "  demanded  the  chauffeur. 

"  I  wouldn't  advise  you  to  create  a  dis- 
turbance," said  the  important-looking  man. 

"  I  have  no  intention  of  creating  a  dis- 
turbance," Mr.  Prince  declared.  "  And,  of 
course,  I'll  get  out  —  at  once." 

"  If  you  was  really  looking  for  an  auto- 
mobile from  the  Pioneer  Garage,"  said  the 
chauffeur,  "  there  it  is,  over  there." 

Mr.  Prince  turned,  and  walked  hurriedly 
in  the  direction  toward  which  the  chauffeur 
had  pointed.  Yes,  there  was  an  automo- 
bile. But  what  an  automobile!  He  had 
wired  for  the  fastest  car  in  the  shop,  and 
they  had  sent  him  —  Occasionally,  in  a 
moment  of  surprise,  or  disappointment,  one 
conceives  a  simile  so  false  as  to  seem  almost 
inspired.  Mr.  Prince  smiled  bitterly. 


<Qie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  I'm  dashed  if  they  haven't  sent  me  a  bird- 
cage," he  said. 

Having  delivered  himself  of  this  observa- 
tion, Mr.  Prince  flew  to  his  perch  beside  the 
driver.  Then,  with  captive  coil  singing 
hoarsely  to  the  uneven  accompaniment  of  its 
single  cylinder,  the  shabby,  battered  little 
bird-cage  proceeded  slowly  on  its  way  to  the 
Lake  View  Hotel. 


CHAPTER  XI 

IT  is  doubtful  if  the  cat  of  song  and  story 
who  ate  the  fabled  and  unfortunate 
canary  felt  —  or  looked  —  more  com- 
placent than  Miss  Randolph,  after  her  adroit 
dismissal  of  Mr.  Prince.  True,  he  had 
got  the  best  of  her  when  he  had  sent  her  the 
sapphire  bracelet.  But  now  she  had  got  the 
best  of  him.  Oh,  dear,  yes!  He  had 
wanted  most  awfully  to  stay,  and  she  had 
made  him  go;  he  had  attempted  to  deceive 
her,  and  she  had  tripped  him  with  the  web 
of  his  own  deceit;  falsehood  had  come  in  at 
the  door,  and  Mr.  Prince  had  flown  out  of 
the  window.  Exit  Mr.  Prince. 

Not  that  she  held  the  white  lies  he  had 
told  against  him :  they  had  been  far  too  use- 
ful to  her.  Still,  it  was  just  the  least  bit 
scandalous  that  such  a  good-looking  young 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


man  should  stray  so  constantly  from  the 
highroad  of  truth.  Perhaps  this  would  be  a 
lesson  to  him.  In  any  event,  it  was  refresh- 
ing to  taste  of  the  fruits  of  victory.  And 
it  was  wonderfully  pleasant  to  remember  the 
wry  face  with  which  Mr.  Prince  had  ac- 
cepted the  apples  of  discord  she  had  thrust 
into  his  hand,  if  one  could  so  refer  to  the  four 
one-dollar  bills  she  had  given  him.  How 
he  had  hated  to  take  them!  And  what  an 
inspired  moment  it  had  been  when  she  had 
realized  the  possibilities  of  the  gray-haired 
passenger  in  chair  number  seven  ! 

It  now  occurred  to  Miss  Randolph  that 
she  might  need  another  inspiration  to  assist 
her  in  returning  the  sapphire  bracelet  to  its 
rightful  owner.  Supposing  that  extraordi- 
nary person  should  prove  difficult,  and  de- 
mand an  explanation.  But  why  worry  about 
it?  Besides,  since  misfortunes  never  came 
singly,  there  could  be  no  earthly  reason  why 
inspirations  shouldn't  travel  in  pairs. 

"  If  I  can  have  one  inspiration,  I  can  have 
another,"  she  decided  serenely.  "  And, 
moreover,  I'll  make  it  a  point  to  have  one." 

Satisfied  that  the   problem   of   approach- 

I2O 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


ing  the  lady  with  the  henna-colored  hair 
would  furnish  its  own  solution,  Miss  Ran- 
dolph settled  herself  more  comfortably  in* 
her  chair,  and  read  a  story  in  a  magazine. 
It  was  one  of  those  cheerful,  pink-and-white 
stories  containing  a  stalwart,  handsome  hero, 
and  a  heroine  with  a  perfect  nose  who  wore 
Paquin  gowns  —  a  story  with  a  romantic 
first  meeting,  a  Newport  back-ground,  and 
a  wedding-bell  finish.  And  the  hero  was  — 
yes,  he  was  —  very  like  Mr.  Prince. 

It  was  pleasant,  of  course,  to  realize  that 
fiction  was,  to  some  extent,  patterned  after 
life.  Yet  Miss  Randolph  couldn't  help  see- 
ing that  her  own  story  was  far  more  inter- 
esting. Not  that  she  ever  expected  to  see 
Mr.  Prince  again.  It  was  scarcely  credible, 
but  she  hoped  she  would  see  him  again. 
Without  meaning  to  be,  he  was  such  an  amus- 
ing young  man,  and  even  in  his  stupid  mo- 
ments he  had  never  been  offensive;  on  the 
contrary,  his  stupidity  was,  perhaps,  his 
most  engaging  quality,  for  beneath  it  lay  a 
strata  of  fine  sincerity  which  one  couldn't 
help  liking.  And  then,  he  was  so  obviously 
prepossessed  of  her. 

121 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET  f 

«^  _         -ft-"*  -. 

Supposing  she  were  a  man  who  had  met, 
in  an  unconventional  way  —  Miss  Randolph 
smiled  to  think  how  unconventional  —  a  girl 
whom  she  fancied  she  might  learn  to  —  met 
a  girl  whom  she  wanted  most  awfully  to  meet 
again.  Wouldn't  she  plan,  and  scheme,  and 
contrive?  Miss  Randolph  admitted  she 
would  do  all  three,  only  she  would  plan 
more  cleverly.  Or  would  she?  Hadn't 
Mr.  Prince  done  the  cleverest  thing  pos- 
sible in  sending  her  the  bracelet?  How 
in  the  world  had  he  managed  to  acquire  it? 
From  whom  had  he  learned  her  address? 
And  where  had  he  been  going  when  she  had 
made  him  alight  from  the  train? 

Heretofore,  in  looking  upon  life,  Miss 
Randolph's  eyes  had  reflected  little  more 
than  a  mild  enjoyment;  but  till  this  after- 
noon she  had  never  made  a  young  man  — 
an  exceedingly  attractive  and  reluctant  young 
man  —  alight  from  a  train  at  a  station  miles 
from  the  place  he  had  intended  to  alight.  It 
was  too  delicious !  Life  held  its  golden  mo- 
ments, after  all. 

Experience  having  taught  her  that  she  was 
likely  to  get  a  far  better  dinner  on  the  train 

122 


than  at  the  Lake  View  Hotel,  Miss  Ran- 
dolph entered  the  dining-car  a  little  after  six. 
It  was  too  unearthly  an  hour  really  to  dine, 
so  she  ordered  a  light  supper,  regarding  it 
when  it  arrived  with  the  indifference  of  one 
who  eats  from  habit  rather  than  from 
hunger.  Half  a  grape  fruit,  and  some 
slices  of  cold  chicken.  She  had  had  chicken 
and  grape  fruit  for  lunch.  How  long  ago 
it  seemed!  She  remembered  a  fragment  of 
poetry : 

We  live  in  deeds,  not  years, 

In  thoughts,  not  breaths, 

In  feelings,  not  in  figures  on  a  dial; 

We  should  count  time  by  heart  throbs. 

Yes,  that  was  it;  the  afternoon,  counted 
in  heart  throbs,  was —  But  what  non- 
sense ! 

On  arriving  at  the  hotel,  Miss  Randolph 
ascended  at  once  to  the  room  assigned  her  by 
the  clerk. 

"  I  didn't  expect  to  see  you  back  so  soon," 
said  the  chambermaid.  "  Is  Mrs.  Alexan- 
der well?" 

"Q 


<Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"Is  there  anything  you  want?" 

"  I  think  not,  thank  you." 

"  It's  a  pleasure  to  do  things  for  you,  Miss 
Randolph." 

"  It  is  very  nice  of  you  to  say  that,  and  I 
shall  tell  you  if  — " 

Miss  Randolph  paused,  then  smiled  joy- 
ously. Why  shouldn't  Katie  return  the  sap- 
phire bracelet?  To  return  it  herself  would 
not  only  involve  a  certain  amount  of  embar- 
rassing explanation,  but  the  explanation,  no 
matter  how  artfully  conceived,  could  hardly 
fail  to  arouse  suspicion.  Then,  too,  for  her 
to  return  a  bracelet  that  Mr.  Prince  had 
acquired  in  a  questionable  manner  would 
connect  her  most  unpleasantly  with  the  af- 
fair, while  if  she  gave  the  bracelet  to  Katie, 
with  instructions  to  return  it  with  no  expla- 
nations whatsoever,  its  rightful  owner  would 
naturally  believe  it  had  come  direct  from 
Mr.  Prince.  Yes,  there  could  be  no  doubt 
of  it,  the  inspiration  for  which  she  hoped  had 
arrived  at  last. 

Miss  Randolph  now  opened  her  hand  bag, 
and  drew  therefrom  the  gray  box  containing 
the  bracelet. 


^e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


1  You  can  do  me  a  great  favor,  if  you 
will,"  she  said. 

"  I'm  real  glad,  honest  I  am,  Miss  Ran- 
dolph." 

"  There's  a  lady  stopping  here,  a  lady 
with  rather  peculiar-looking  reddish  hair." 

"  That  must  be  Mrs.  Hardcastle.  She 
ain't  a  lady,  though;  she's  a — " 

"  To-day,  about  lunch-time,"  Miss  Ran- 
dolph interrupted  hurriedly,  "  I  discovered 
I  had  something  that  belonged  to  her." 

"  Something  you  took  away  from  here  by 
mistake?  " 

"  My  having  it  is  the  result  of  a  mistake, 
Katie,  so,  of  course,  it  must  be  returned  to 
her.  Still,  I  can't  see  why  I  should  meet 
her,  and  enter  into  a  long  and  tiresome  ex- 
planation, especially  since  she  doesn't  know 
I  have  it." 

"  No  need  at  all,  Miss  Randolph.  She'll 
talk  your  arm  off  if  you  give  her  a  chance." 

"  And,  since  when  you  give  it  to  her  she 
will  have  her  property,  I  can  think  of  no 
reason  why  my  name  should  be  mentioned  at 
all." 

"  You  can  better  believe  I  won't  mention 


^SAPPHIRE  BMCEIET 


it.  I'll  just  hand  her  what  you  give  me, 
and  say,  '  Here's  something  that  belongs  to 
you,'  then  fade  away.  And  if  she  gets  curi- 
ous, and  tries  to  pump  me  afterward,  I'll 
tell  her  a  story  that'll  make  her  hair  curl. 
It  gives  me  a  pain  the  way  she  puts  on  airs. 
A  girl  in  a  hotel  learns  pretty  quick  to  tell 
the  difference  between  imitations  and  the  real 
thing,  Miss  Randolph,  and  Mrs.  Hardcastle 
ain't  the  real  thing  by  a  good  deal.  Why, 
the  way  she  talks  to  us  maids  is  something 
fierce !  Just  you  give  me  what  you  got  of 
hers,  and  I'll  see  that  she  gets  it,  all  right." 

A  few  moments  later,  the  gray  box  con- 
taining the  sapphire  bracelet  concealed  in  her 
blouse,  Katie  sailed  blithely  down  the  back 
stairs  and  disappeared  in  the  servants'  din- 
ing room.  She  would  have  her  dinner  first; 
plenty  of  time  to  give  the  box  to  that  offen- 
sive Mrs.  Hardcastle,  afterward.  Besides, 
she  had  been  told  there  was  no  great  hurry. 

Feeling  that  a  great  weight  had  been  lifted 
from  her  mind,  or  heart,  or  conscience,  she 
didn't  know  which,  Miss  Randolph  sighed 
contentedly,  and  walked  to  an  open  window. 
It  was  far  too  warm  and  beautiful  t 


^e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


indoors.  Drawing  a  lace  scarf  across  her 
shoulders,  she  made  her  way  downstairs  and 
out  into  the  night.  The  path  she  chose  led 
to  the  lake,  and  the  moon,  walking  far  over- 
head in  her  garden  of  stars,  noticed  this,  and 
smiled. 


127 


-\ 


CHAPTER  XII 

ACCORDING  to  the  porter  in  the 
buffet  car,  the  Lake  View  Hotel  lay 
eight  miles  beyond  the  station  at 
which  Mr.  Prince  had  elected  to  alight. 
This  distance  may  have  been  correct,  as  the 
crow  flies,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  only  resemblance  Mr.  Prince  held  to  a 
crow  in  this  instance  was  that  he  traveled  in 
a  bird-cage.  Then,  too,  the  man  who  drove 
the  bird-cage  insisted  it  was  fourteen  miles 
to  the  Lake  View  Hotel,  and  drivers  of  bird- 
cages are  very  apt  to  know  what  they  are 
talking  about. 

The  journey  proved  painful  to  Mr.  Prince, 
who,  grown  used  to  flying  through  the  coun- 
try in  his  own  fast  car,  had  come  to  look 
on  a  speed  of  fifteen  miles  an  hour  on  a  level 
road  as  being  practically  the  same  thing  as 
128. 


<0ie  SAPPHIRE 


standing  still;  nor  could  he  see  any  merit  in 
a  bird-cage  that  took  every  hill  on  the  first 
speed,  and  overheated  in  the  process  if  the 
hill  were  long.  So  the  wings  of  love  beat 
against  cruel  bars,  and  the  air  was  filled  with 
feathers  and  with  muttered  words  of  dis- 
content. And  when,  at  last,  the  lights  of 
the  hotel  were  sighted,  Mr.  Prince  felt  he 
had  aged  greatly. 

"  By  Jove,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  that  chap 
Rip  Van  Winkle  was  uncommonly  lucky;  he 
slept  his  twenty  years,  while  I've  spent  mine 
traveling  fourteen  miles  !  "  Which  would 
lead  one  to  believe  that  Mr.  Prince,  like  Miss 
Randolph,  had  begun  to  count  time  by  heart 
throbs. 

As  the  little  car  chugged  up  to  the  hotel, 
a  tall  young  man  rose  from  his  chair  on  the 
veranda  and  strolled  over  to  inspect  the  new 
arrival,  for  he  was  interested  in  everything 
in  the  automobile  world  from  a  bird-cage 
to  a  Fiat. 

"  Looks  like  a  single-cylinder  Starbuck," 
he  mused.  "  And  Lordy,  it's  missing  like 
it  was  kidnaped!  Weak  battery,  I  guess; 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


or  maybe  it's  a —  Well,  I'll  be  jiggered! 
If  it  ain't  Mr.  Prince!  And  in  a  Starbuck, 
of  all  things!  " 

"  Glad  to  see  you,  Bill,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 
"  Take  my  bag,  please,  while  I  pay  off  this 
driver." 

"  I  kind  of  looked  for  you  on  that  seven 
o'clock  train,"  said  Bill  a  moment  later. 
"  Some  class  to  them  Starbucks  — - 1  don't 
think.  Will  you  be  wanting  me  this  even- 
ing?" 

"  Not  so  far  as  I  know.  Is  my  car  here, 
or  at  the  garage?  " 

"  It's  out  under  the  shed  by  the  stable.  I 
engaged  a  room  for  you,  and  your  other 
gripsack  is  in  it.  Guess  I'll  hang  around 
in  case  you  do  want  me,  if  it's  all  the  same 
to  you." 

"  Just  as  you  like,  Bill." 

After  carrying  Mr.  Prince's  bag  into  the 
hotel,  Bill  went  back  to  his  chair  in  a  dark 
corner  of  the  veranda,  and,  lighting  his  pipe, 
puffed  away  contentedly;  his  new  employer 
was  certainly  a  grand  man  to  work  for,  the 
Fiat  was  a  grand  car,  and  one  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  a  month  was  a  grand  sum  of 
130 


<Qie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


money.  Aside  from  all  this,  Mr.  Prince  was 
a  good  comrade,  as  well. 

"  He  ain't  a  bit  stuck  up,  like  some  of 
them  rich  guys,"  Bill  told  himself  approv- 
ingly. "  Not  on  your  tintype !  He's  the 
real  goods,  all  right,  all  right !  " 

In  the  hotel,  the  "  real  goods "  was 
greeted  by  the  clerk  like  a  long  lost  brother. 
It  was  curious,  but  men  in  a  humbler  station 
of  life  were  usually  delighted  to  see  Mr. 
Prince;  even  his  friends  noticed  this. 
"  Morton  always  makes  a  hit  with  hoi 
polloi,"  Jack  Leighton  had  said  one  night  at 
the  club. 

Mr.  Prince,  quite  unaware  that  the  clerk's 
greeting  was  more  cordial  than  was  gener- 
ally extended  to  guests  arriving  at  this  par- 
ticular hotel,  responded  to  it  with  great  sin- 
cerity. 

"  Dashed  glad  to  see  you  again,"  he  said. 
"  My  chauffeur  told  me  he'd  engaged  a  room 
for  me.  Did  he  register?" 

"  Yes,  he  registered,"  said  the  clerk. 
"  He  arrived  yesterday  afternoon  with  the 
car.  I  gave  him  a  room  in  the  attic." 

Mr.  Prince  now  studied  the  book  in  which 


<GieSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


guests  wrote  their  names.  He  was  ex- 
tremely pleased  to  see  Miss  Randolph's  sig- 
nature; he  was  almost  as  pleased  to  place 
his  own  directly  under  it.  There  was  some- 
thing intimate  and  satisfying  in  their  names 
appearing  so  close  together.  Some  day,  if 
the  fates  were  kind,  her  signature  would  be 
done  away  with  to  the  delicious  extent  that 
hotel  registers  would  bear  this  record :  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Morton  Prince.  Or  would  it  be 
more  proper  to  write,  Morton  Prince  and 
wife?  There  were  certain  things  a  chap  had 
to  look  into;  next  time  he  stopped  at  a  big 
hotel  he'd  inspect  the  register,  and  learn 
which  was  right.  In  the  meantime,  he'd 
take  a  look  about  him  and  see  if,  by  any 
happy  chance,  he  could  discover  Miss  Ran- 
dolph. Leaving  his  bag  to  be  sent  to  his 
room,  Mr.  Prince  lighted  a  cigarette,  and, 
with  a  friendly  nod  to  the  clerk,  made  for 
the  veranda. 

The  veranda  of  the  Lake  View  Hotel  was 
really  charming;  holding  no  lights  to  blind 
the  eyes,  it  was  spacious  to  a  degree,  and  cer- 
tain portions  of  its  long  reach  were  screened 
with  honeysuckle  and  wistaria.  Avoiding  a 
132 


group  of  men  and  girls,  Mr.  Prince  walked 
almost  the  length  of  the  veranda.  No,  she 
wasn't  there.  Perhaps  she  had  retired  for 
the  night?  Some  one  sat  in  shadow  over 
yonder;  but,  alas,  it  was  a  man.  Maybe 
he'd  be  fortunate  enough  to  see  her  in  the 
morning?  Since  he  couldn't  see  her  now, 
he'd  sit  down  and  think  about  her.  As  if 
he  could  help  thinking  about  her!  But  it 
was  sad  that  a  night  so  fragrant  with  honey- 
suckle should  be  — 

"  Good-evening,"  said  a  voice. 

"  Er  —  good-evening,"  said  Mr.  Prince, 
rising  hastily,  "  good-evening."  Then,  that 
being  extended  which  he  could  not  well  ig- 
nore, he  shook  hands  gravely  with  the  lady 
with  the  henna-colored  hair.  This  accom- 
plished, the  lady  drew  a  chair  very  near  his 
own,  and,  seating  herself,  commanded  Mr. 
Prince  to  do  likewise. 

"  Now  this  is  what  I  call  cozy,"  she  said. 

"  It  is,  rather,"  agreed  Mr.  Prince, 
vaguely  alarmed,  yet  undecided  as  to 
whether  he  could  edge  his  chair  away  with- 
out seeming  rude.  With  a  sigh,  he  realized 
that  he  was  fairly  trapped. 

133 


^e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  And  I  want  to  tell  you  I  think  you're  a 
perfect  duck." 

"A  what?" 

"  A  perfect  duck." 

"  There's  —  there's  some  mistake." 

"Don't  be  a  goose!  " 

"Is  it  —  is  it  about  the  bracelet?" 

"  Of  course  it  is,  you  stupid  boy !  Why 
didn't  you  return  it  yourself,  dear  Mr. 
Prince?" 

"I  — I  don't  know.  That  is—  Did 
she  give  it  to  you  herself?" 

"  How  else  could  I  be  wearing  it  now  ?  " 
asked  the  lady,  waving  her  left  hand  before 
Mr.  Prince's  troubled  eyes. 

"Er  — what  did  she  tell  you?" 

"  She  didn't  tell  me  anything,"  answered 
the  lady.  "  All  she  said  was :  *  Here's 
something  that  belongs  to  you.' ' 

"  Thank  the  Lord !  "  thought  Mr.  Prince. 
"  I  could  never  have  forgiven  myself  if  she 
had  become  involved  in  this  dashed  affair 
with  this  dashed  woman." 

"  And  when  I  asked  her  what  was  in  the 
box,  she  as  plain  as  told  me  it  was  none  of 
my  business." 

134 


tJieSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 

"  Bully  for  her!  "  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  It  wasn't  bully  at  all,"  declared  the  lady, 
41  it  was  just  plain  sass.  And  I'm  thinking 
of  having  her  discharged." 

"Discharged?" 

"  Yes,  discharged.  This  ain't  the  first 
time  she's  been  cheeky.  And  the  way  she 
makes  my  bed  is  something  fierce  —  sheets 
all  wrinkles,  and  — " 

"  Makes  your  bed  ? "  exclaimed  Mr. 
Prince.  "  Who  in  the  deuce  are  you  talk- 
ing about? " 

"  And  who  should  I  be  talking  about  but 
the  chambermaid  you  gave  the  bracelet  to?  " 

Mr.  Prince  was  silent;  first  from  sheer 
relief,  then  from  admiration  of  Miss  Ran- 
dolph's cleverness.  "  By  Jove,"  he  thought, 
"  she  has  kept  clear  of  this  whole  affair,  and 
I'm  no  end  grateful !  " 

"  I  never  knew  a  gentleman  to  give  a  lady 
a  present  more  graceful,"  continued  his  com- 
panion. 

"Er  — didn't  you?" 

"  Do  I  look  like  a  lady  that  would  accept 
seven  hundred  dollars  from  a  perfect  stran- 
ger?" 

135 


'Gie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"I  —  Of  course  not.  You  see,  it's  all  a 
mistake." 

"  What's  a  mistake?  "  demanded  the  lady. 
"  Didn't  you  tell  that  sassy  chambermaid  to 
give  me  the  bracelet?  " 

"  No,  I  didn't,"  said  Mr.  Prince.  "  And 
I'll  be  much  obliged  to  you  if  you'll  re- 
turn it." 

"Well,  I  guess  not!" 

"  Look  here,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "  why  do 
you  suppose  I  gave  you  seven  hundred  dol- 
lars for  a  three  hundred  dollar  bracelet  if  it 
wasn't  that  I  wished  to  keep  it?  " 

"  I  suppose  you  was  kind  of  gone  on  me, 
if  you  want  the  truth,"  the  lady  replied  braz- 
enly. 

"  I'm  not,"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

Anyway,  I've  got  it,  and,  what's  more, 
I  intend  to  keep  it." 

"  And  I  say  you  shall  not,"  Mr.  Prince 
declared,  raising  his  voice  in  his  excitement. 
"  The  bracelet  is  mine,  and  I  mean  to 


seven  hundred  dollars 


'  Yes.     But  you  can't  prove  it." 

"  I  can  come  jolly  near  proving  it." 

"  Bah !  "  said  the  lady,  snapping  her  fin- 
gers. '  You  can't  prove  anything,  and  I  ad- 
vise you  not  to  try.  Besides,  what's  seven 
hundred  dollars  to  you  ?  " 

"  It's  the  confounded  principle  of  the 
thing;  a  chap  doesn't  like  to  be  rooked  of 
seven  hundred  dollars,  or  of  seventy  cents, 
for  that  matter." 

"  And  a  lady  doesn't  like  to  have  a  gen- 
tleman talk  to  her  like  you're  talking  to  me." 

"  I'm  sure  I  beg  your  pardon  if  I've  been 
rude,"  said  Mr.  Prince.  "  Just  the  same,  I 
want  the  bracelet." 

"  You  can't  have  it." 

"  Then  I'll  take  the  seven  hundred  dol- 
lars." 

"  You'll  take  yourself  off,"  said  the  lady. 
*'  If  you  don't,  I'll  tell  the  hotel  clerk  you 
insulted  me." 

"  And  I'll  tell  him  you  have  my  bracelet." 

"  Go  tell  him.  There's  plenty  of  people 
in  the  hotel  that  have  seen  me  wearing  it." 

"  Then  I'll  tell  him  you've  seven  hundred 
dollars  of  mine." 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


1  You  do  it,  and  I'll  sue  you  for  breach  of 
promise." 

"What?"  gasped  Mr.  Prince. 

"  I've  a  notion  to  do  it,  anyway." 

"  Why,  this  is  —     It's  preposterous !  " 

"  You  go  around  telling  people  you  gave 
me  seven  hundred  dollars,  and  see  if  it's  pre- 
posterous or  not.  Why  should  you  be  giv- 
ing me  money?  " 

"  For  the  bracelet." 

"  A  likely  story,"  said  the  lady,  "  What 
would  you  be  wanting  with  a  bracelet?  It's 
more  likely  you  gave  me  the  money  to  buy 
a  trousseau." 

Quite  overwhelmed  by  this  alarming  and 
unlooked-for  statement,  Mr.  Prince  rose, 
stood  speechless  for  a  moment;  then,  turning 
on  his  heel,  walked  swiftly  away,  neither  see- 
ing nor  caring  where  he  went,  for  his  eyes 
smarted  from  the  dust  of  defeat,  and  his 
heart  burned  with  anger.  Round  the  corner 
of  the  hotel,  across  an  open  space,  down  a 
path  —  it  was  all  one  to  him  so  long  as  each 
step  carried  him  farther  from  that  dreadful 
woman. 

Sad  to  relate,  that  dreadful  woman  was 

138 


distinctly  pleased  with  herself;  three  hundred 
dollar  bracelets  did  not  grow  on  every  tree, 
and  a  clear  profit  of  seven  hundred  dollars 
was  never  to  be  despised. 

"  I  scared  him  pink,  so  I  guess  he  won't 
bother  me  any  more,"  she  said  to  herself. 
"  Fancy  a  kid  like  that  thinking  he  could  do 
Emma  Hardcastle  out  of  anything  she's  once 
got  her  fingers  on.  He  must  have  bought 
that  bracelet  of  me  to  give  to  some  girl  he's 
sweet  on,  and  the  maid  who  was  to  deliver 
it  must  have  made  a  mistake.  Yet  he  didn't 
seem  surprised  that  I  had  it.  I  guess  he 
really  started  to  give  it  back  to  me,  and  then 
got  cold  feet.  Anyway,  I  got  it,  and  it'll 
take  somebody  with  more  nerve  than  Morton 
Prince  to  get  it  back." 

In  a  shadowy  corner  of  the  veranda,  not 
so  far  from  where  the  lady  with  the  henna- 
colored  hair  sat,  a  young  man  was  engaged 
in  unlacing  his  shoes.  It  was  an  unconven- 
tional thing  to  do,  even  under  the  cover  of 
darkness,  but  perhaps  the  shoes  were  too 
tightly  laced?  No,  there  must  have  been  a 
pebble  in  one  of  them  —  in  both  of  them  — 

139 


for  now  he  held  his  shoes  in  his  hand;  he  was 
tying  their  laces  together;  he  had  slipped  the 
laces  over  his  head,  and  the  shoes  hung  from 
his  neck.  Was  the  young  man  quite  insane? 

He  was  on  his  feet,  stealing  softly  toward 
a  certain  spot.  He  was  directly  behind  the 
lady  with  the  henna-colored  hair.  He  had 
her  by  the  wrist. 

A  short  struggle,  a  scream  of  anger  and 
alarm,  and  this  highly  unconventional  young 
man  leaped  lightly  over  the  veranda  rail, 
and  disappeared  into  the  night,  leaving  the 
lady  to  announce  hysterically  to  the  audience 
attracted  by  her  scream  that  she  had  been 
robbed  of  a  valuable  bracelet. 

"  Did  you  see  the  thief's  face?  "  asked  the 
hotel  clerk  anxiously. 

"  You  can  better  believe  I  saw  his  face  I 
He  stole  up  on  me  in  his  stocking  feet,  and 
grabbed  my  wrist,  and  slipped  off  my  brace- 
let just  like  that.  And  I  don't  know  what 
kind  of  a  hotel  you  call  this  where  a  lady 
can't  even  sit  on  the  front  porch  without  be- 
ing robbed." 

"  Nothing   like   this   ever  happened   here 
before,"  said  the  clerk. 
140 


<Gie SAPPHIRE  BRACELET] 

"  I  should  hope  not  1  You  send  for  the 
constable  right  away;  do  you  hear?  " 

"  I've  already  sent  for  him,"  said  the 
clerk.  "  He  only  lives  just  beyond  our 
gate." 

"  Well,  when  he  comes  you  bring  him 
straight  to  me.  And  clear  these  people 
away,  will  you?  " 

Left  alone,  the  lady  tossed  her  head  an- 
grily, and  vowed  vengeance. 

"  I  didn't  see  his  face,  either,"  she  con- 
fessed to  herself,  "  but  I'm  blamed  sure  it 
was  that  low-down  sneak  of  a  Morton 
Prince.  He  must  have  climbed  over  the  rail- 
ing at  the  end  of  the  porch.  I'll  teach  him  to 
steal  bracelets.  I'll  have  him  arrested,  and 
then  make  him  pungle  up  something  hand- 
some before  I'll  agree  not  to  appear  against 
him.  'And  I  guess  it  ought  to  be  worth  a 
couple  of  thousand  not  to  appear  against 
him,"  she  concluded  more  amiably. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


WHEN  Mr.  Prince  had  left  the  lady 
with  the  henna-colored  hair,  he 
had  been  far  too  indignant  to  no- 
tice where  his  steps  were  taking  him,  and 
therein  the  hand  of  fate  is  clearly  indicated, 
for  the  path  he  followed  led  to  the  little  pa- 
vilion at  the  edge  of  the  lake,  and  in  the 
pavilion  he  discovered  the  one  of  all  the 
world'  in  whom  the  night  found  its  most 
pleasing  expression.  Mr.  Prince  was  en- 
chanted. 

"  Fancy  finding  you  here,"  he  said. 
"  I'm  even  more  surprised  than  you,"  re- 
plied Miss  Randolph,  whose  greatest  sur- 
prise lay  in  realizing  she  wasn't  at  all  sur- 
prised at  seeing  Mr.  Prince.  "  I  imagined 
your  professional  duties  would  detain  you 
142 


<GieSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


longer.  I  hope  your  criminal  didn't  es- 
cape." 

"  Did  you  think  I  would  let  him  escape 
after  what  you  told  me?  "  Mr.  Prince  asked 
reproachfully. 

"  After  what  I  told  you? " 

"  You  said  you'd  never  speak  to  me  again 
if  I  let  him  get  away." 

"  So  I  did.  But  don't  you  think  you  are 
a  —  a  bit  rash  to  come  here  ?  " 

"  I  didn't  dream  you  were  here ;  I  didn't, 
honestly." 

"  I  mean,  wasn't  it  rash  of  you  to  come  to 
the  hotel?" 

Mr.  Prince  groaned.  "  I  knew  you'd 
think  that,"  he  said,  "  but  I  —  I  just  couldn't 
help  it.  I  was  almost  sure  you  were  bound 
for  this  place  when  I  saw  you  on  the  train. 
I  suppose  if  I'd  been  —  if  I  hadn't  been  — 
I  haven't  meant  to  intrude,  or  annoy  you, 
really  and  truly  I  haven't." 

"  But  you  haven't  intruded;  you  have  been 
most  considerate.  I'm  sure  some  detect- 
ives—" 

"  Miss  Randolph,"  Mr.  Prince  said,  with 
great  solemnity,  "  I  am  not  a  detective." 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  Not  now,  perhaps." 

"  I  never  was." 

"  Why  do  you  tell  me  this?  " 

"  I'm  blessed  if  I  know,"  Mr.  Prince  re- 
plied, "  unless  it  is  because  I  can't  bear  to  de- 
ceive you  any  longer." 

"Supposing  you  had  never  deceived  me? 
Supposing  I  had  guessed  it  from  the  very 
start?" 

"  And  supposing  I  were  to  guess,  now, 
that  you  had  never  been  robbed  of  a  sapphire 
bracelet?  " 

"  That,"  said  Miss  Randolph,  "  is  what 
worries  me.  I  don't  mind  telling  you,  since 
this  seems  a  time  for  confessions,  that  I  never 
was  robbed  of  a  sapphire  bracelet,  or  of  any 
other  kind.  Indeed,  I  came  here  to-day  to 
return  the  bracelet  you  sent  me  to  the  woman 
from  whom  you  —  er  —  procured  it.  But 
the  woman  is  still  stopping  at  the  hotel,  and 
if  she  sees  you,  she  may  make  it  unpleasant 
for  you." 

"  Do  you   know,"   said   Mr.   Prince   ear- 
nestly, "  it's  the  very  deuce  to  think  you've  de- 
ceived some  one  you  really  care  for.     I  —  I 
do  care  for  you,  Miss  Randolph." 
144 


<Qie5APPHIRE  BRACELET 


Perhaps  it  was  the  moonlight?  Perhaps 
it  was  a  certain  quality  in  Mr.  Prince's  voice? 
Whatever  it  was,  Miss  Randolph  couldn't 
help  feeling  a  tenderness  toward  this  big, 
handsome,  faltering  young  man.  Yet  he 
mustn't  be  allowed  to  — 

"  I  love  you,"  Mr.  Prince  continued. 
"  I  can't  help  it.  I  don't  want  to  help  it.  I 
just  love  you." 

"I  —  I'm  sure,  I  appreciate  your  caring." 

"  And  you're  not  angry?  " 

"Oh,  yes;  I'm  very  angry!"  Miss  Ran- 
dolph replied,  forcing  a  little  laugh. 

"  It  isn't  really  funny.     I  —  I  mean  it." 

"  I  only  laughed  for  fear  I  should  —  to 
see  if  I  could,"  she  confessed.  "  And  I'm 
sure  you  mean  it." 

"  I  couldn't  bear  it  if  you  didn't  believe  I 
meant  it,"  Mr.  Prince  replied  simply. 

"  But,  really,  you  must  consider  what  the 
woman  whose  bracelet  you  sent  me  will  do  if 
she  sees  you." 

"  Why,  she  can't  possibly  do  anything. 
Not  possibly." 

"  Are  you  sure?  " 

"  Positive  —  just  as  sure  as  I  am  that  my 

145 


^e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET  (_/V>j 

name's  Morton  Prince.  There  are  several 
things  about  that  bracelet  I  am  anxious  to  tell 
you,  though.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  before  I 
sent  it  to  you,  I  —  I  say,  what  the  deuce  1  " 

Mr.  Prince's  exclamation  of  astonishment 
was  entirely  justified,  for,  as  he  uttered  it,  a 
little  man  with  a  gray  beard  dashed  into  the 
pavilion,  and,  with  a  dramatic,  "  Hands 
up !  "  covered  him  with  a  huge  revolver. 

"  I  suppose,"  said  the  little  man,  "  you'll 
deny  your  identity,  but  it  won't  do  you  any 
good." 

"  If  you  don't  stop  pointing  that  revolver 
at  me,  I'll  jolly  well  punch  your  head  for 
you." 

"  You  can't,"  said  the  little  man,  "  I'm  the 
constable." 

"  You  point  that  revolver  of  yours  at  the 
floor,"  commanded  Mr.  Prince. 

"  I  warn  you  I'm  all-fired  quick,"  said  the 
constable,  lowering  his  weapon. 

"  Don't  you  think  you'd  better  go?  "  Mr. 
Prince  whispered  to  the  girl,  suddenly  appre- 
hensive in  her  behalf. 

"  No." 

"  Stop  that  whispering,"  ordered  the 
146 


^e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


constable.     "  I    suppose    you'll    deny    your 
identity,  but — " 

"  Why  should  I  deny  it,  you  old  idiot?  " 

"  I  heard  you  myself.  I  sneaked  up  on 
you,  and  I  listened  to  you  talking." 

"What?" 

"  And  just  as  I  got  here  I  heard  you  call 
yourself  Morton  Prince." 

"Oh!"  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"Oh!  "said  the  girl. 

"  And  I  caught  the  word  bracelet." 

"  That  was  clever  of  you,"  said  Mr. 
Prince,  so  relieved  concerning  the  things  the 
constable  hadn't  heard  as  to  be  almost 
friendly. 

"  And  I  guess  I  got  you  dead  to  rights." 

"  I'm  afraid  you  have,"  agreed  Mr. 
Prince,  glancing  at  the  revolver.  "  Would 
it  be  too  much  to  ask  you  what  you  intend  to 
do  next?  " 

"  I've  already  done  it,"  said  the  constable. 
"  You're  under  arrest." 

"The  deuce  I  am!" 

"  And   I   advise  you 
bracelet." 

"What  bracelet?" 


to   hand  over  that 


e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


'  The  one  you  stole  from  the  lady." 

"  But  he  hasn't  it,"  Miss  Randolph  began. 

"  Hah !  "  cried  the  constable.  "  I  see. 
Hah !  So  he's  given  it  to  you,  has  he?  " 

"  Don't  be  an  ass !  "  said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  Look  here,  young  feller  — " 

"  What  do  you  think  you  have  against  me, 
anyway?  " 

"  Robbery,  highway  robbery,"  said  the 
constable. 

"But  that's  absurd!" 

"  It's  state's  prison,  that's  what  it  is." 

"  Who  says  I  stole  a  bracelet?  " 

"  A  Mrs.  Hardcastle." 

"  Well,  I  didn't.  She's  a  blackmailing  ad- 
venturess. I  paid  her  seven  hundred  dollars 
for  it." 

"  Why !     Why !  "  exclaimed  the  girl. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "  that  is  what  I 
started  to  tell  you :  I  bought  the  bracelet  from 
her." 

"  Then  there's  nothing  to  worry  about,  is 
there?" 

"  Nothing  at  all." 

"  You  can  just  bet  there's  something  to 
worry  about,"  said  the  constable.  "  I  sup- 
148 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


pose  you  didn't  sneak  up  on  Mrs.  Hardcastle 
in  the  dark,  and  grab  her  bracelet,  and  make 
off  with  it." 

"  W-hat?  "  gasped  Mr.  Prince. 

"  I  say  I  suppose  you  didn't  sneak  up  on 
the  lady,  and  grab  her  bracelet." 

"  Certainly  I  didn't." 

"  She  says  you  did." 

"  She  —  she's  mistaken." 

"  Well,  you're  under  arrest,  anyway.  And 
I  advise  you  not  to  try  and  escape,  for  if  you 
do,  I'll  shoot  the  everlasting  daylights  out  of 
you.  I  will,  so  help  me  Moses !  " 

"  What  is  it  you  want  me  to  do?  " 

"  You're  to  go  with  me." 

"Go  where?" 

"  To  the  hotel." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "  lead  the 
way." 

"Lead  the  way!  What  do  you  take  me 
for?  You  march  along  in  front." 

"  Just  as  you  like." 

"  And  you,  too,"  said  the  constable,  ad- 
dressing Miss  Randolph. 

"  She'll  do  nothing  of  the  sort,''  declared 
Mr.  Prince. 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  But  I  want  to  go,"  said  the  girl. 

"  No,"  Mr.  Prince  replied  firmly. 

"  How  do  I  know  she  ain't  an  accom- 
plice?" demanded  the  constable. 

"  Because  I  tell  you  she  isn't." 

"  And  how  do  I  know  you  ain't  lying?  " 

"  I  say  she  shall  not  be  dragged  into  this." 

"  But  I  want  to  go." 

"  She's  got  to  go." 

Mr.  Prince  now  advanced  threateningly. 
"  Another  word  about  it,  and  I'll  throw  you 
into  the  lake,"  he  said. 

"  I'll  shoot  you  full  of  holes,"  yelled  the 
constable.  i 

"  Please  let  me  go  with  you,"  pleaded  the 
girl. 

"  No,  sweetheart." 

"  Please,  Morton.  It's  really  all  my 
fault,  you  know." 

"There!"  exclaimed  the  constable. 
"It's  all  her  fault;  she  says  so  herself. 
Besides,  when  young  fellers  steal  jewelry, 
it's  always  for  a  woman." 

"  If  you'll  allow  me  to  explain  to  you  who 
I  am,  you  will  see  there  is  no  necessity  for  my 
stealing  jewelry." 

150 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  You  can  tell  all  that  to  the  judge.  I'm 
here  to  arrest  you,  and  by  Godfrey,  I've  done 
it!" 

"  There  can  be  no  harm  in  my  going  with 
you,"  said  the  girl. 

"  It  would  be  most  unpleasant  for  you," 
Mr.  Prince  explained;  "  you  would  be  stared 
at  by  all  the  people  in  the  hotel,  and — " 

"  Please  let  me  go  with  you." 

Mr.  Prince  hesitated. 

"  Please." 

"  I  will  if  you'll  call  me  Morton  again," 
Mr.  Prince  whispered. 

"  Hey,  stop  that  whispering!  " 

"It's  all  right,"  said  the  girl.  "I'm 
going,  too." 

"  Not  till  — "     Mr.  Prince  began. 

"  I'm  going  with,  my  friend  Morton 
Prince." 

"  Oh,  I  say,  that's  not  the  way!  " 

"  It's  one  way,"  the  girl  replied,  mischief 
dancing  in  her  eyes. 

"  You  always  do  get  the  best  of  me,"  said 
Mr.  Prince. 

"  Well,  are  you  going,  or  ain't  you?  "  de- 
manded the  constable. 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


We  are  going,"  said  the  girl. 

Marching  side  by  side,  the  constable  a  few 
feet  in  the  rear,  Mr.  Prince  and  Miss  Ran- 
dolph now  made  their  way  toward  the  hotel. 

"  It  was  sweet  of  you  to  stand  by  me," 
said  Mr.  Prince. 

"I  —  I  always  mean  to  do  that,"  said  the 
girl. 

"  If  that  confounded  constable  weren't 
here,  I'd—" 

"  Constables    make    excellent    chaperons." 

"  But  to  think  our  first  walk  together 
should  be  — " 

The  girl  laughed  merrily.  "  It's  too  de- 
licious," she  said. 

"I  know,  but—" 

Mr.  Prince  did  not  finish  his  protest;  in- 
stead, he  smiled  beatifically,  for  a  little  hand 
had  stolen  into  his  own. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  lady  with  the  henna-colored  hair 
was  feeling  just  the  least  bit  uncom- 
fortable. It  was  not  that  she  re- 
gretted her  interview  with  the  constable;  nor 
did  she  wish  to  withdraw  one  word  of  the  ex- 
aggerated account  she  had  given  him  of  the 
robbery;  but  perhaps  she  had  gone  a  little 
too  far  in  stating  positively  that  Mr.  Prince 
was  the  thief  who  had  stolen  her  bracelet. 
It  didn't  seem  likely  that  any  one  else  could 
have  stolen  it,  yet  the  hand  that  had  grasped 
hers  had  been  quite  rough  —  not  at  all  like 
the  hand  of  a  gentleman.  And  the  glimpse 
she  had  caught  of  the  thief's  back,  as  he 
vaulted  over  the  veranda  rail  and  scurried 
across  the  lawn,  had  been  far  from  reassur- 
ing. Still,  there  was  no  use  in  worrying;  if 


^e  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


there  was  any  worrying  to  be  done,  Morton. 
Prince  could  do  it. 

"  And  it  would  serve  him  right  for  being 
so  stuck  up,"  the  lady  decided  with  a  malevo- 
lent titter. 

Rising  from  her  chair,  she  now  glanced 
resentfully  at  the  whispering  group  of  guests 
at  the  other  end  of  the  veranda.  It  might 
be  wise  for  her  to  take  a  walk  in  the  direction 
of  the  lake.  It  was  toward  the  lake  that  the 
constable  had  gone,  and  —  Well,  there  was 
little  advantage  in  sitting  still.  Besides,  if 
the  constable  had  arrested  Mr.  Prince,  he 
would  naturally  bring  him  to  the  hotel,  and 
then  all  these  whispering  busybodies  would 
have  even  more  to  whisper  about.  So  it 
came  to  pass  that  the  lady  with  the  henna- 
colored  hair  met  the  constable  and  his  two 
prisoners  very  near  the  shed  that  sheltered 
Mr.  Prince's  powerful  gray  motor  car. 

The  sight  of  her  standing  there  in  the 
moonlight  came  as  a  rude  awakening  to  Mr. 
Prince,  more  particularly  as  the  little  hand 
that  had  been  resting  so  trustfully  on  his  own 
was  now  hurriedly  withdrawn. 

"  I  believe  I  am  indebted  to  you  for  the 
154 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


honor  of  this  gentleman's  acquaintance," 
he  said,  indicating  the  constable. 

"  You'll  know  him  better  than  you  do  now 
if  you  don't  give  me  back  my  bracelet,"  de- 
clared the  lady. 

"  He  hasn't  your  bracelet,"  said  Miss  Ran- 
dolph. 

"  Who  spoke  to  you,  and  what  are  you 
doing  in  this,  anyway?" 

"  She's  an  accomplice,"  explained  the 
constable. 

"Hah!  "said  the  lady. 

"  Won't  you  please  go  back  to  the  pavilion 
and  wait  for  me  there?"  Mr.  Prince 
begged  in  a  low  voice. 

"  But,  Morton  — " 

"  I  want  you  to." 

"Hey,  none  of  that!"  warned  the  con- 
stable. 

"  It  will  make  me  very  unhappy  if  you  in- 
sist on  staying,"  Mr.  Prince  continued, 
ignoring  the  constable. 

"  But  will  he  let  me  go?" 

"I'll  attend  to  that.  Please  go,  sweet- 
heart." 


Y/ 


^eSAPPHIREBMCELH 


"  I  do  wish  it." 

'  You  come  back  here,"  commanded  the 
constable,  but  he  might  as  well  have  com- 
manded the  moon  to  stand  still.  With  head 
erect,  and  without  glancing  even  once  over 
her  shoulder,  Miss  Randolph  proceeded 
calmly  on  her  way  to  the  lake. 

"  Jumping  Jehosaphat !  "  said  the  con- 
stable. "  She's  certainly  a  cool  one." 

'  We  didn't  want  her  here,  anyway,"  said 
the  lady. 

"  Am  I  to  understand  that  you  accuse  me 
of  stealing  a  bracelet?"  demanded  Mr. 
Prince. 

"  I  did  accuse  you,"  said  the  lady,  "  but 
I'm  sure  I  don't  want  to  get  you  into  trouble. 
If  you'll  give  the  bracelet  back — " 

"  Unfortunately,  I  haven't  it." 

"  Look  here,"  said  the  constable,  who  had 
been  studying  Mr.  Prince's  face,  "  are  you 
sure  this  is  the  man  that  robbed  you  ?  " 

"Sure?  Of  course,  I'm  sure.  He  can 
either  give  me  the  bracelet,  or  seven  hun- 
dred dollars;  it's  all  the  same  to  me." 

"Stop  it!"  said  the  constable.     "That's 
no  way  to  do  business.     If  he's  guilty  he 
156 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


goes  to  jail.  Why,  if  you  was  to  accept 
seven  hundred  dollars  from  him  you'd  be 
compounding  a  felony." 

"  He's  guilty,  all  right,"  declared  the  lady. 
"  Just  because  he's  rich  he  needn't  think  he 
can  come  it  over  me." 

"  Is  he  rich?  "  asked  the  constable. 

"  I  should  say  he  was!  " 
,    "  Then  I  don't  believe  he  done  it." 

"  I  tell  you  he  did." 

"  It  ain't  reasonable  to  think  a  rich  man 
would  rob  people." 

"That,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "is  the  first 
glimmer  of  common  sense  you've  shown  this 
evening." 

"  I  ain't  saying  you're  innocent,  young 
man,  and  I  don't  want  none  of  your  sass, 
either,"  warned  the  constable. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Prince,  "  what  are  you 
going  to  do  about  it?  " 

"  I'm  going  to  put  you  in  jail  if  Mrs. 
Hardcastle  will  swear  to  a  warrant." 

"I  —  I  hardly  like  to  do  that,"  said  the 
lady.  "If  you'll  leave  us  alone,  constable, 
perhaps  Mr.  Prince  and  I  can  come  to  some 
satisfactory  agreement." 


^eSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  And  I  r:fuse  to  be  left  alone  with  this 
woman,  or  to  enter  into  any  agreement  of 
any  kind  with  her." 

"  Oh,  you  do,  do  you  ? "  the  lady  ex- 
claimed angrily.  "  I  want  to  tell  you  right 
now,  I'm  just  as  good  as  you  are,  and  better. 
And  I'll  swear  out  that  warrant  against  you 
if  it's  the  last  thing  I  do  on  earth."  Her 
voice  was  quivering  with  rage. 

"  You'd  better  not,"  cautioned  Mr.  Prince. 

"  What  the  lady  says,  goes,"  said  the  con- 
stable. "  You  ain't  been  any  too  civil  to  me, 
young  man,  and  if  she's  willing  to  run  the  risk 
of  swearing  to  a  warrant,  I'm  the  man  to  jail 
you." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  you  would  dare 
take  this  woman's  word  to  that  extent?  " 

"  If  she's  mistaken,  it's  her  funeral,  not 
mine,"  said  the  constable.  '*  You  come  with 
me  to  the  hotel,  son,  and  we'll  get  a  nice  little 
wagon,  and  tote  you  off  to  jail." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  lady,  "  he  goes  to  jail. 
And  I  leave  by  the  early  train  to-morrow 
morning,"  she  added  under  her  breath. 

"  You  — you  really  mean  it?  "  gasped  Mr. 
Prince. 


You  can  better  believe  I  do,"  said  the 
constable. 

"  Well,  I  guess  not,"  said  a  voice  at  Mr. 
Prince's  elbow.  "  I'm  the  guy  that  took  the 
bracelet." 

Quite  overwhelmed  by  this  unexpected  and 
astonishing  announcement,  the  startled  trio 
turned  and  stared  at  —  Bill. 

"  If  you  don't  believe  me,  here  it  is,"  Bill 
continued,  holding  the  bracelet  aloft  for  all 
to  see. 

"  But,  but  —  how  on  earth?  "  Mr.  Prince 
began. 

"  Bill  Potts,  I'm  surprised  at  you,"  said 
the  constable. 

"  You  give  me  my  bracelet,"  demanded 
the  lady. 

"  Not  on  your  life,"  said  Bill. 

"  And  I've  known  him  ever  since  he  was 
knee-high  to  a  grasshopper,"  mourned  the 
constable. 

"  It's  all  right,  Mr.  Hawkins,"  said  Bill, 
addressing  the  constable.  "  This  here  brace- 
let belongs  to  Mr.  Prince,  and  I  can  prove  it." 

"  It  don't,  and  you  can't,"  declared  the 
lady.  "  You  give  me  my  bracelet." 

159 

r~ 


7 


\ 


"  Did  you  really  take  it  from  her  by 
force?  "  Mr.  Prince  asked  sternly. 

"  If  he  says  it's  all  right,  it's  sure  all 
right,"  said  the  constable.  "  I've  known 
Bill  ever  since  he  was  born,  and  there  ain't  an 
honester  boy  in  the  state." 

"Honest  nothing!  He's  a  thief,  you  old 
goat;  he  stole  my  bracelet!  " 

"  It  ain't  her  bracelet,  and  I  can  prove  it. 
Mr.  Prince  he  paid  her  seven  hundred  dol- 
lars for  it;  I  heard  him  say  so." 

"Does  that  make  it  so?"  snapped  the 
lady. 

"  It  sure  does.  Besides,  didn't  you  ad- 
mit it?" 

"  No,  I  didn't." 

"  She  did,  too,"  said  Bill  addressing  the 
constable.  "  I  heard  her." 

"  But  you  shouldn't  have  taken  it  from 
her,  Bill." 

"  Do  you  think  I  was  going  to  stand  by 
and  see  you  done  out  of  seven  hundred  dol- 
lars? "  Bill  asked  reproachfully. 

"  If  this  man's  a  friend  of  yours,"  began 
the  constable. 

"  Friend  of  mine?  Well,  I  should  say  he 
1 60 


SAPPHIRE  mam 


was !  Say,  Mr.  Hawkins,  he's  the  finest  ever. 
And  good  to  me !  Gosh !  " 

"  You  get  my  bracelet  for  me,  or  I'll  make 
it  hot  for  you,"  threatened  the  lady  in  a  fine 
fury. 

"  I'm  liable  to,  ain't  I?  "  replied  the  con- 
stable. 

"  Do  you  mean  you'll  take  that  kid's  word 
against  mine?  " 

"  Every  time." 

"  I'm  no  end  sorry  you  should  have  been 
subjected  to  such  —  er  —  to  such  methods," 
said  Mr.  Prince. 

"  Sorry,  my  foot !  I  believe  you  put  him 
up  to  it." 

"  You'd  ought  to  be  ashamed,  setting  an 
officer  of  the  law  on  an  innocent  man,"  said 
the  constable. 

"  I  don't  yet  see  how  it  came  about,"  said 
Mr.  Prince. 

"  Well,  you  see,"  Bill  explained.  "  I  was 
settin'  near  you  on  the  porch  when  you  and 
the  lady  was  chinning  about  the  bracelet,  so 
I  couldn't  help  hearing.  And,  since  then, 
I've  been  hanging  about  in  the  shed  there 
where  the  car  is,  waiting  for  yoa  to  come 
161 


<0ie  SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


back  from  the  lake.     I  knowed  you  wasn't 
alone  down  there,  or  else  — " 

"  I  see.  Give  me  the  bracelet,  please. 
Thank  you.  And  now,  if  you'll  leave  me 
alone  with  this  lady —  Mr.  Hawkins,  I 
hope  you'll  pardon  any  incivility  on  my  part. 
You  will  understand  that  I  was  a  little  upset, 
and—" 

"  Sure,"  replied  the  constable.  "  And  I 
don't  blame  you.  Shake." 

'You    ain't    sore    with   me,    are    you?" 
asked  Bill. 

"No,  indeed;  I'm  most  grateful  to  you." 

"  He's  a  good  boy,"  said  the  constable. 

"  None  better,"  declared  Mr.  Prince. 
"  Good-night,  Mr.  Hawkins.  Good-night, 
Bill." 

"  Well,"  said  the  lady,  "  I  hope  you're  sat- 
isfied." 

"  I  am,  and  I'm  not,"  Mr.  Prince  replied. 
"  I  am  very  glad  to  have  the  bracelet,  but 
I'm  sorry  to  have  acquired  it  in  such  an  unus- 
ual and  —  er  —  distressing  manner.  I  apol- 
ogize most  sincerely  for  the  treatment  you 
received  in  the  hands  of  my  chauffeur." 
162 


SAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


"  Bah,"  said  the  lady,  "  don't  be  a  hypo- 
crite! You  got  the  best  of  me,  and  that's  all 
there  is  to  it.  I  wish  you  joy  of  your  brace- 
let, Morton  Prince." 

"  But  I'd  like  to  make  some  amends.  I 
would,  truly." 

"  I  don't  suppose  you'd  care  to  give  me 
the  bracelet?" 

"  N-no.  But  if  there's  anything  else  I  can 
do?" 

The  lady  now  regarded  Mr.  Prince  with 
something  very  like  admiration.  "  Say,  I 
believe  you  mean  it,"  she  said. 

"  Of  course,  I  mean  it." 

"  And  I'm  blessed  if  I  don't  think  I  could 
touch  you  for  a  hundred  or  two  foj  hurting 
my  feelings." 

"  I  was  about  to  suggest  something  of  the 
sort,"  Mr.  Prince  admitted. 

"No,"  said  the  lady,  "it  would  be  too 
easy.  I'm  a  lot  decenter  woman  than  you 
imagine,  Morton  Prince." 

"  I'm  sure  you're  not,"  Mr.  Prince  replied, 
with  unconscious  equivocation. 

"  I've  pulled  your  leg  all  I'm  going  to," 
the  lady  continued  firmly.  "  YouVe  treated 
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jpeSAPPHIRE  BRACELET 


me  whiter  than  most  would,  and  I  hope  you 
and  the  girl  will  be  happy.  That's  straight." 
Mr.  Prince  was  profoundly  touched. 
"  I  hope  you  will  be  happy,  too,"  he  said,  ex- 
tending his  hand.  "  Good-night." 

"  IVe  been  so  worried,"  Miss  Randolph 
confessed  when  Mr.  Prince  joined  her  a  few 
moments  later  in  the  pavilion.  "  Did  that 
dreadful  woman  — " 

"  No,"  replied  Mr.  Prince,  "  she  was 
really  very  nice  about  it.  Look,  sweet- 
heart." 

"  Why,  you  have  the  bracelet!  " 

"  Your  bracelet,"  corrected  Mr.  Prince, 
pressing  it  into  her  hand.  "  You'll  keep  it 
always,  won't  you?  And,  Dorothy,  girl — " 

"  Yes,  Morton." 

A  gentle  breeze  stirred  the  willows,  over- 
head the  moon  smiled  tenderly,  but  the  sap- 
phire bracelet  slipped  to  the  floor  and  lay 
there,  quite  forgotten. 


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